Novembers Doom - Into Night’s Requiem Infernal

Novembers Doom have been on the pinnacle of doom/death genre since 1995. After staying along so long, one would believe they would lose their spark and go dull. With some bands this may be the case, but with Novembers Doom its not. Novembers Doom knows it’s savvier to work outside-the-box numbers into their bludgeoning death metal infrastructure instead of dedicating whole albums to said risk. With Into Night’s Requiem Infernal, they satisfy both the headbanger’s ravenous lust as well as their own voraciousness for dark sensuality.

Musically Novembers Doom is slow-burning, gloomy, riff-driven and heavy as hell. And the eye-catching part of their new album is the vocals. Paul Kuhr's fairly deep growls with a twinge of soaring clean vocals make the atmosphere so gloomy that may make you want to cry. Cleans are mostly used in the choruses with depressing lyrics which gives a very epic feel to the album. However the Sasha Horn's work behind the drums are forgettable but even then it manages to blend in with other elements that make up the band's sound. Also the intelligent guitar work of Vito and Lawrence utilizing heavily distorted sounds amidst those clean rites passage ensure that the album dodges the dreadful draggy sound that many bands in the genre fall prey to.

The title track is one of the densest songs Novembers Doom has yet penned and it doesn’t cease from there. Empathy’s Greed, The Harlot’s Lie and the stamping Lazarus Regret will provoke rhythmic noggin nods with sinewy riffs, alt-psych tucks and raging vocals from mastermind Paul Kuhr. And when they want to go a bit offbeat,they succeed admirably with the sensual quietude of The Fifth Day of March. And similarly they end the albumwith When Desperation Fills the Void, which wails into a crowning snarl in a taciturn manner.

The depth and the variety on Into Night's Requiem Infernal is worth checking out. It is heavy, but still manages to offer more than just speed and distortion. Barring few lyrical hiccups , as it tends to get tedious and weak drumming, Novembers Doom latest release is their magnum opus or whatever else you may want to call it.