Novembers Doom ends six years of silence.
Still signed to Prophecy Productions, Paul Kuhr (vocals, ex-Subterranean Masquerade), Larry Roberts (lead guitar, The Kahless Clone), Vito Marchese (rhythm guitar, The Kahless Clone), Mike Feldman (bass, ex-Subterranean Masquerade), and Garry Naples (drums, Trouble, Wizzo, The Kahless Clone) unveil their twelfth album, Major Arcana.
Ben Johnson (Divinity Compromised, The Kahless Clone) provides keyboards for this album, and Rhiannon Kuhr, Paul‘s daughter, provides female backing vocals on some tracks.
The album opens with June, the first track, where the keyboards welcome us in a very solemn manner, providing an icy foundation for Paul, who envelops us in mystery as he leads us to Major Arcana, the first track where the whole band comes together with a single goal: to cloud our minds with their melancholy. Clean and saturated vocals coexist naturally, allowing the vocalist to maintain the intensity while the rhythm section hypnotizes us, taking advantage of more jerky passages to develop a few bursts of energy between two more soothing waves, the last of which leads us to the dark Ravenous. There is a slight touch of airy dissonance at certain moments, but the track remains predominantly aggressive, particularly in the choruses, despite the keyboards providing a majestic sound while the harmonics explore heavy roots before calming down on Mercy. The track begins with a soft, painful melody accompanying the vocalist, eventually encountering a few more unifying saturated moments where the leads emerge, then it is with The Dance that new influences come to light, offering, for example, a more raw, jerky touch before becoming very airy again. The contrast is really striking on this track, thanks in particular to the singer, who also accentuates the two aspects of his vocal personality before becoming even wilder on The Fool, a fairly stirring track. The usually calm passages are this time quite hazy and heady, making the composition quite chaotic, unlike the long Bleed Static, which, although quite enigmatic at first glance, flows quite naturally and offers us some haunting choruses, notably with the powerful “save me” lines. Chatter takes over after a moment of uncertainty, returning to solid riffs that are perfect for conveying this message of despair, which is expressed in various forms, before moving on to Dusking Day, which slows things down with minimalist keyboards to create a dreamy atmosphere, but which returns to heaviness when the time is right. The passages where the double kick reigns supreme are simply exhilarating, but the track is forced to give way to XXII, the last track where the band sweeps us away from the very first second, but doesn’t hesitate to offer a break with prog accents before setting off again for one last dose of gloom.
Although fairly discreet, Novembers Doom has built an excellent reputation in the Doom/Death scene over the years, and Major Arcana proves that it is far from undeserved. The band still hits hard and offers us some striking tracks.
90/100
