Staff picks

It took me about one minute to realize Novembers Doom's latest is a drastic improvement over their previous release. They have found that ideal balance between dark, melodic death and the pulsing, downbeat of doom, and do it with arrangements and production that is assertive yet fluid. For fans of deeply personal lyrics, Paul Kuhr has always been one of the best around, and he's as drastic as ever here. And to top it off, fans of Anneke van Giersbergen will find her doing an excellent guest appearance with Paul as well (and in the available video track)!

Oh, and did I mention how great they are live?