Customer Reviews

Sculpted Ivy & Stone Flowers

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Releases like this that have made me lose all faith in the American music industry. Now don't get me wrong, I mean that in the best way possible. Its just so disheartening to see bands with so much talent like Novembers Doom scorned for stuff like Linkin Park, Staind, Slipknot...etc.

I could lament the unjustice of the recording industry all day, but I'll get on with the review. Of Scultured Ivy And Stone Flowers may just be the quintessential Doom album of all time. It encompasses everything a Doom album should be. Sad, brooding, acerbic while still retaining a sense of elegance and a glimmer of hope. This is an album so filled with texture and emotion it takes you to another place. Every element comes together to form a darkly tranquil, profoundly human expierence.

1999's Of Sculptured Ivy and Stone Flowers was the second full-length album from Novembers Doom, one of America's absolute finest doom/death metal bands. The band's early sound was very similar to their European counterparts Amorphis (as in Black Winter Day-era Amorphis), My Dying Bride, and very early Paradise Lost.

This album was actually my first exposure to Novembers Doom. I was getting into Opeth in a big way and ran across this album looking for similar sounding bands. Well, nothing really sounds like Opeth, but I knew Novembers Doom was something powerful Of Sculptured Ivy and Stone Flowers hit me like a ton of bricks, both in terms of the general doomy and melancholy atmosphere as well as sheer heaviness. The harsh vocals in particular just add a sense of crushing heaviness, especially contrasted to the clean vocals and occasional almost operatic female vocals. The only song I don't care for is the synth-driven instrumental "Before the Wind," which just seems out of place.

It's not as polished or progressive (and I don't mean that in a Dream Theater sense) as the band's later offerings, but Of Sculptured Ivy and Stone Flowers is still an impressive doom/death metal release, and one that I keep coming back to when I feel the need to have all the sunshine sucked out of my life one gloriously bleak minute at a time.

This cd is really good, I like the way the riff are put together and the vocals as well utilizing growly and clean. If you like old my dying bride and old paradise lost, this cd is for you!!

this is a grate cd anybody that likes metal will like this cd

When I was hired at Discovery Zone, I had hardly no interst in aband such as Nov's Doom. My employer, Joe, has a friend that is a band member. Joe had told me that he was not to crazy about the style music and that I could listen and see if I liked it. Turns out that Nov's Doom is one of the best band that I like next to Metallica.