Altoadige Novembre

Classica is the third studio album by Italian band Novembre.
After the sudden change in sound of the sophomore album Arte Novecento, the leading Italian atmospheric metal group Novembre is back with the next album. The gently subtle touches from the previous release are replaced with a direction that could be initially witnessed in the debut album Wish I Could Dream Again - contrast between two polar parts - crushing Death Metal with ferocious growls and mellow, often acoustic, passages. However, Classica is not a return to the roots, and songs sound drastically different, yet keep that touch, which Novembre are instantly recognised for.

Novembre's 1996 effort "Arte Novencento" is the second album written by the young Orlando brothers. Well, compared to their first release, "Wish I Could Dream It Again", we see that songs still retain the dreamy doom sound that they borrowed from other European bands at the time (notably Katatonia and Anathema) but shift the focus from guitar driven melancholy to an upbeat floating sound.

After a period of inactivity since 2007's The Blue, which involved the departure of longstanding member Giuseppe Orlando, Novembre returns with URSA, a new set of potent and poignant tracks. The album effortlessly blends soothing, epic, melancholy and intense moods and represents a high point from one of the originators of the atmospheric Death/Doom Metal scene.
Headed by founding member and writer Carmelo Orlando (with a reinvigorated musical alliance with Massimiliano Pagliuso), the line-up is completed by Fabio Fraschini (previously bassist on the Materia album), and David Folchitto on drums. Anders Nystrom from Katatonia makes a special guest appearance, adding his own unique 'cold' touch to the album's single track Annoluce…

The Blue successfully expands on the sound experiment of Materia, the previous Novembre album, but also brings in elements from their earlier works. On some songs, it is easy to notice the mix of powerful death metal elements and the more mellow yet progressive side of Materia.
Contrary to their previous disc, The Blue exudes greater use of death metal-styled vocals and screams from Carmelo Orlando, but he hasn't abandoned his sombre clean tone completely. Actually, most of the tunes on The Blue boast his unmistakable clean singing a la Materia, such as "Cobalt of March" with its Ulverian intro and excellent guitar cascades; "Bluecracy" with its penchant for melodic guitar lines and groove-oriented rhythmic facade; or "Architeme" with its detailed Radiohead-like arrangement, something which has been carried over from Materia as well…

In the mid- to late '90s and early 2000s, Novembre was usually categorized as a metal band. The Rome, Italy-based outfit (whose name means November in Italian) were called gothic metal, doom metal and alternative metal, and they were compared to bands ranging from My Dying Bride to Opeth to Katatonia. But it would be a mistake to think of Materia as strictly a metal album. Parts of the disc are relevant to metal (the generally clean vocals occasionally give way to a death metal-ish growl), but much of this 2006 release is simply alternative rock. But however one categorizes Materia, this is an enjoyable, well-crafted and highly melodic effort that thrives on all things melancholy. Very few rays of sunlight find their way to Materia; the songs have a dark, gloomy, brooding and less than optimistic perspective…

It is inevitable to avoid comparisons with Opeth when talking about Novembre's music. Surely, the same qualities Opeth fans adore can be found in Novembre's music, Novembrine Waltz in particular. However, it would be rather ignorant to look up to this amazingly talented and overlooked Italian group as one of the countless Opeth followers. Novembre have been in it as long as the Swedes and were as much pioneers of the melodic, atmosphere kind of progressive death metal as the above-mentioned collective. If you are a fan of such groups as Anathema, Agalloch, early Opeth, this will quite possibly make the list of your best albums ever.