Novembers Doom

Novembers Doom has shaped another dismal passage across a tragic landscape, with lyrics and music equally drenched in doom. Mixed by Dan Swanö (who contributed the final guitar solo for "Dark World Burden”) and mastered by James Murphy, The Pale Haunted Departure’s layers come through strong and clear, even the rumbling low end, and the album moves forward with unstoppable momentum. Vocalist Paul Kuhr has several different growling tones, and does a little clean singing and chanting, his vocal transformations complementing shifts in pace, distortion, heaviness, and instrumental arrangements — the album’s judicious use of keyboards, for example. The Pale Haunt Departure is a worthy follow-up to Novembers Doom’s past successes, and reveals a band whose talents and creativity are in their prime.