It’s amazing. I can’t describe it any other way. When one of my absolute favourite bands releases an album after nine years of nothing, at least in the album-releasing sense, it is just amazing. “Classica” (1999), “Novembrine Waltz” (2001), “The Blue” (2007) – each of these albums is a masterpiece. The sounds are so big, so expansive, so expressive, so melancholic, so beautiful. My mind was filled with images of tragedy and crumbling Italian buildings in monochrome vistas, yet it was uplifting with the heavy and delicate majesty of it all – progressively gloomy soundscapes at their finest. And now “URSA”. I have now learnt that URSA is an abbreviation of “Union des Républiques Socialistes Animales”, the French title of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. I’d never thought of a George Orwell-Novembre connection but it’s so logical. The vivid imagery and gloom bond them.
“URSA” is another monstrous hour long journey. With Novembre, it’s about expression. Economy of time is not a factor. “Australis” takes us straight into a dreamy expanse. The sound is big. The vocalist has the familiar distant air. Growls intervene and impose darkness on the misty scene. A guitar-led pick up starts another passage, which is both languid and colourful. “The Rose” is a grey and dreamy affair. Other than an instrumental twist mid-track, it doesn’t deviate from the Novembrian template until the final minute when lapping water cuts into a final morbid layer of gloom. Delicate beginnings then give way to swathes of harsh and progressive darkness. “Umana” is classic Novembre – light meets dark, delicacy meets harshness, there is power everywhere. A stunning distorted vocal section leads into a rise in tension and majestic heights – such a shame when this magnificent piece ended. “Easter” has the gloomy and dreamy air of “The Rose” before it. The title track’s bright guitar work is overshadowed by harsh scenery and haunting vocals. An array of sounds adds the backdrop to this complex and extrovert track. “Oceans of Afternoons” reinforces the same mood, and represents isolation and despair. In common with most of the other tracks, it breaks off a minute or two before the end and takes a different path, this time featuring a saxophonist sadly playing a tune in this heavy atmosphere.
“Annaluce” is the surprise choice as a single. It’s interesting because it’s six minutes long, Novembre are not really a band for singles and there’s a guest appearance from Katatonia’s Anders Nyström. Novembre’s music has a Katatonian air but with greater flamboyance and it’s more evident than ever with the ringing guitar sound. But progressive it is too as it takes us sequentially through typically heavy and reflective passages to places which you wouldn’t normally find in a single. However upbeat the guitar line is and animated the vocals are, this isn’t going to make anyone dance around the room in joy. Instrumental suggestion follows with “Agathae”. It’s folksy and vivacious, and delightful. I couldn’t get away from expecting sinister overtones and they are there, as the light and airy beginning is overtaken by a monstrously progressive chunk of darkness. This is a track of exploration, which could have gone or for longer. Great and intriguing as it is, I felt it left something out there. Melancholy returns with “Bremen”, another mix of death metal harshness, majesty and dreaminess. There are strange nightmarish sounds to accompany the typically strident guitar, and then it ends definitely like a door being slammed shut. What else to finish but “Fin” – a quiet opening, a prolonged roar, and another languidly dark song, rising into epic territory, falling away into calm territory and ending with a power surge. It’s a typical Novembre structure.
“URSA” is a difficult album to swallow, but with the power, suggestive melancholy and many of the classic twists and moods that one would associate with an album by Novembre. If I’m honest, I preferred “The Blue”, which led me to greater heights, but this is another work of art which sits well in the band’s grandiose collection.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
Leave a Reply