Review of the Album Dreams D'Azur by Italian Doom and Death Metal Band Novembre

Dreams D'Azur released in 2002 by Italian doom and death metal band Novembre would have been classified as their official 5^th full-length release but it is actually instead a re-recording of their debut album Wish I Could Dream It Again...There are a few changes in this album compared with the band's debut and they have to do with a few of the track names. For instance, the song called "Novembre/Its Blood" has simply just been changed to Novembre the band's name. The production is better than the debut and the sound sounds more crisp in a way as those of you that did not get the chance to hear the band's debut will get to hear it again only with sound quality. The band's debut is sold out and it is no longer available but this one is available and it is a progressive death metal album that should appeal to fans of bands such as Opeth. Fans of Novembre no longer have to dream about listening to the band’s debut because here it is! That dream is now a reality for us!

1. The Dream of the Old Boats
2. Novembre
3. Nottetempo
4. Let Me Hate
5. Sirens in Filth
6. Swim Seagull in the Sky
7. The Music
8. Marea 9Part 1, 2, and 3)
9. Old Lighthouse Tale
10. The White Eyed
11. Neanderthal Sands
12. Christal

Novembre was founded back in 1990 by brothers Carmelo and Giuseppe Orlando. “Novembre” has a solo part that I did not hear in the original song Novembre/Its Blood on the first album.

If you dream of relaxing and listening to a doom/death metal combination that has good modern sound, then Dreams D'Azur is right up your alley or to word it another way, it is your cup of tea. The lyrics are about personal and life struggles which include the fear of somehow losing one's way in life which is understandable given the fact that we are all human. Fear is an emotional response to a perceived event that may or may not happen.

For this review, we will try to put more of a modern spin to it and analyze mostly the songs that we did not discuss when we reviewed their 1994 studio album.

“The Music” is actually a song title in this album and this one has an atmospheric start to it before it becomes very heavy. Lyrically, the song is about how life turns out, including joys and sorrows because it is part of life. “Marea” Italian for tide is a three part metal suite that starts off with acoustic guitar and the sound of waves. We will get back to Marea in just a moment but the focus and attention will be on the song that was formerly called Novembre/Its Blood. The voice of Carmelo Orlando has not improved much in this newer version and the last minute and a half of the song, that last awesome section is not as good in this one as it is in the older version. But it is still something to be appreciated for sure. Marea is a very long song that stylistically is like Opeth because Opeth has also often times started a song with plentiful acoustic guitar only to get into a heavy song that has time changes in it. With long songs though it can sometimes feel like the song just drags on and on. By the seven minute mark we hear an acoustic part that the band In Flames has perfected throughout their career. Once again lyrically we hear of a situation where the cold has returned and the situation is chaotic. The world is always going to have ups and downs and we must try to do what we can to navigate these times and emerge stronger than ever.

"Old Lighthouse Tale" is a song that shows that Novembre is turning to more complex musical territory and even the lyrics are so complex that trying to interpret them would be like trying to take apart the pieces of a puzzle that are stuck to each other like glue. “The White Eyed” has some strange lyrics such as the reference to seagulls eating the eyes of people.

Nonetheless, what is offered on this album is doom and death metal that is not depressing and probably will not bring your mood down. It will instead open up your musical tastes and allow you to experience doom metal that is well written and makes sense in the grand scheme of things when it comes to the metal genre. Marea although it is a song that is very long fits in well with the album and there is no sense that the song just drags on with no meaning. “Neanderthal Sands” is a song that lyrically tries to tell us that human beings are all alone in this vast Universe. Are we really all alone? The world has more than just human beings. There are various animals so in the literal sense we are not alone in the world. This beautiful album ends with the song "Christal" which is a combination of the sounds of a breeze blowing and a mostly acoustic song. I can find little to complain about when it comes to Dreams D'Azur and this is a more than proper way for Italy's Novembre to re-record an album that they wrote several years prior to this one.