“novembers_doom”
Novembers Doom
Of Sculptured Ivy and Stone Flowers
Martyr
For as frosty as Of Sculptured Ivy and Stone Flowers gets, you’d think Novembers Doom [sic] would hail from the mighty North (Norway, that is). Nope: Bolingbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, so by default Novembers Doom is from the North, however American the variety. In this context, then, Novembers Doom trudges out a pretty tasty doom-metal stew, but when compared to its European counterparts (e.g., Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Tiamat, Samael), the flies of derivation begin to float to the top. No fault of the band’s own, really: well-constructed riffs, dynamic songwriting, a balance of ethereal female vox and guttural male ones; all the components of a seven-course doom-metal meal are present, just not in as grand of a style as the European cuisine. But hey – those guys have many years (and records) under their belts, and the Chicago dudes merely are the rookies; thus, expect some grand cooking in the years to come.
Martyr, 532 La Guardia Pl. #544, New York, NY 10012; http://www.novembersdoom.com
