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February 18th, 2007, 05:58 PM
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#2 (permalink) |
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crazed tattooed metalhead
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Chandler,arizona
Posts: 3,571
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My quick two cents as it will require many listens to really have a good review but I really enjoyed my first complete listen to the new cd.
Plus, I really like the book/cd package!  |
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February 21st, 2007, 10:15 AM
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#3 (permalink) |
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Doom On!
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: West Burbs of Chicago
Posts: 8,089
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I will be writing a formal review within a few days to post on a couple other sites. I will copy and paste the review here as well.
I have heard it almost 2 full times already. (I had chosen not to download it). A couple quick points: 1) Two words... Fucking brilliant! 2) A perfect continuation and progression from The Pale Haunt Departure
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February 22nd, 2007, 01:12 AM
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#4 (permalink) |
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Are You Morbid?
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: LI, NY-The center of heavy metal and SUVs
Posts: 1,269
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I know people are going to cover it point by point, but it has to be said concisely that this band is one of the few that consistently gets better with each release, producing something with distinct differences in stylings, but retaining the identity of Novembers Doom.
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February 23rd, 2007, 12:15 PM
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#6 (permalink) |
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Ken Luther
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Valparaiso, IN
Posts: 995
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I posted some quick comments on several new releases on another board. I've edited and extended my comments on TNR for posting here. And I left my comments on other discs at the end of the post just in case anyone is interested!
Novembers Doom - The Novella Reservoir. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED My boys sure ate their Wheaties before getting together to record this disc! There is an intensity and pace to many of the songs on this disc that the title track on The Pale Haunt Departure started hinting at. Drown the Inland Mere may be the most action packed tune they've written. The disc starts with three brutally heavy songs in a row (Rain, The Novella Reservoir, Drown the Inland Mere), then takes a break with the mellow and touching Twilight Innocence. After that, the second half is a bit more uneven; The Voice of Failure and They Were Left to Die both have a good heavy oppressive feel to them, but to my ears they suffer a bit in comparison with the opening three tracks. I guess that's the risk you run when your opening three songs are just so damn good. Both of these songs still have something good going on. There's a nice guitar solo with some twin interplay in The Voice of Failure which isn't the usual for Novembers Doom, but I find that the chorus loses my attention. There's a nice stretch in They Were Left To Die which has a good vocal line where Paul sings clean (no growls or spoken word). I like that sound on the somewhat rare occasions when he does it, and I wish he'd do it more. In fact, I'd like to hear an alternate version of Twilight Innocence in which Paul just takes a really deep breath and belts it out instead of using his more deliberate style of doling out two or three words at a time. I'm not saying the latter doesn't work for me, I'd just like to hear both versions! Things get exciting again with Dominate the Human Strain. Now understand that this is Novembers Doom after all, so I don't equate "exciting" with a blisteringly rapid tempo or a count of how many 64th notes get played, but moreso just by how absorbed I get in the songs. (Granted, though, my favorite tracks are the faster ones.) After the two previous tracks which cause my attention to wander a bit, Drown the Human Strain pulls me right back in. The closing track Leaving This is good but perhaps a bit overlong. I would have rather had Rain or Drown the Inland Mere be a more extended song because I want my favorite tracks to last longer.  Other random thoughts on the CD: Paul's vocals in Drown the Inland Mere remind me a lot of Chuck Billy's vocals on the Testament disc Demonic  I don't have the musical language to describe it properly, but I really like the drumming on this disc in that Joe doesn't just go "WHAMWHAMWHAM" on the snare all the time, but mostly relies more on the low end and bass drums. I much prefer that; lots of rolls and deep thunder make me happy. The subtle keyboards add a nice touch. Way to go Eddy! And as congressmen like to say, I reserve the right to revise and amend my remarks after more listens...particularly regarding Leaving This, because I have the suspicion that song will be a grower. <comments on other recent discs> Therion - Gothic Kabbalah. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Guitars! Bass! Drums! Keyboards! Opera! Choir! Symphony! Spam! This double CD set has it all! I haven't even come close to absorbing all of this, and I actually would prefer a few songs trimmed to leave a long single CD. But this is the most interesting Therion since Theli. (The sticker says since Vovin, which isn't much of a selling point.) Favorite tracks: Wisdom and the Cage, Son of the Staves of Time, TOF - The Trinity (one of the best songs of the year so far), Adulruna Redibaba. Pain of Salvation - Scarsick. SADLY NOT RECOMMENDED. Memo to Daniel Gildenlow: Just shut up and sing, please. This disc is very strong when the songs play to Pain of Salvation's strengths - powerful, memorable lyrics and melodies. The best song on the disc by far, Cribcaged, is an example of this. The chorus of the title track is great. Unfortunately, there are few of these songs. The rest are seem more like interludes or mood pieces. "Side 2" has nothing that maintains my interest for an extended stretch. Flame to the Moth is OK, and Enter Rain has some good parts, but these aren't sustained. On too much of the disc, Gildenlow is either doing voiceovers, rapping, or singing in that silly high pitch that sounds more like a bird chirping. I hate to say it, but I wish they stuck to the basics - and for PoS, the "basics" can still be quite intricate and unusual, but this CD goes to the trough of the unusual too many times to be sustainably engaging. Looks like I'll have to stick with their original four CDs to be my Pain of Salvation canon. Tarot - Crows Fly Black. RECOMMENDED, BUT NOT ESSENTIAL I like the sound of Tarot and I get excited when I hear the CD start. But that excitement wavers in and out through the length of the disc as the songs vary from great to so-so. This one actually became less groovy the more I heard it. Tarot is one of those bands that I would be much better served by a collection of the 3-4 best songs of each CD since the rest seems to be mostly filler. My favorite tracks on this one are Traitor, Messenger of the Gods, and Bleeding Dust. Grave Digger - Liberty or Death. RECOMMENDED, BUT NOT ESSENTIAL. My initial reaction was that this was on par with pretty much all of the most recent 4-5 Grave Digger CDs. My favorite of the latter day Grave Digger discs was, and still is, The Last Supper. This one won't top it and, like Excalibur and Rheingold, has a few songs with good drive, and a few that make it feel like they're going through the motions. They have definitely settled into a consistent sound over their last several discs, and if you don't like that sound you won't like this disc. If you do like that sound, this disc should satisfy you at least somewhat. Favorite tracks: The Terrible One (one of my favorite GD songs off any of their last few discs) and Shadowland.
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----------------------------------------------------- Ken Luther // Professor of Math & Metal // Valparaiso University http://faculty.valpo.edu/kluther1/ ----------------------------------------------------- |
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February 24th, 2007, 07:30 PM
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#9 (permalink) |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 1,471
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Just a quick comment, Joe Cortez is a fuckin' beast of a drummer. Bone-jarring. The bottom that Chris and Joe lay out is excellent!!
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"SHORTER OF BREATH, AND ONE DAY CLOSER TO DEATH." |
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