By Tom Sundgren

After nearly a decade of silence, Italian progressive doom masters Novembre return with Words of Indigo, their long-awaited new album out November 7th. Following 2016’s Ursa, the band—led by Carmelo Orlando—emerges with renewed creative energy and a revitalized lineup. Tom Sundgren caught up with Carmelo to talk about the long gap between records, how Words of Indigo took shape, and the evolution of Novembre’s sound and spirit.

Tom Sundgren – Words of Indigo comes out November 7th, and it’s been nine years since your last album, Ursa. How does it feel for you at this stage? Were a lot of these songs formed shortly after Ursa, or did the band take a break from writing in general? Were you working on these songs more in recent years? And how does it feel to finally be releasing new music about a month from now?

Carmelo Orlando – All right, uh, so there’s one song—I think it’s called “KZA de la” (which means Church of Dawn)—that was actually supposed to be on Ursa, but it didn’t fit at the time. It was too long, and I really wanted it on this one. So, I held on to it.

In the meantime, I kept recording riffs—individual ones—and I have a huge folder of riffs that I record almost daily. I just don’t put them together unless it’s time to, you know? So I don’t even spend the time.

Around 2019, I thought it was about time to do another album, but then COVID came, and, you know, it kept everyone at home. Even when we could finally go out, the venues were still closed, and no one knew if things would ever get back to normal. So I thought there was no reason to work—to spend all that energy—because, you know, it’s energy-consuming.

When everything finally came back to normal, I started working on it with the guys. It took about a year, maybe a year and a half. And before you know it, it’s 2024. Then we started recording, and here we are—nine years gone in just the blink of an eye.

That’s amazing. Nice. Hell yeah. So, to be honest, originally I was following you guys on Facebook and not on Instagram for whatever reason—I just forgot to follow you there too. But I think maybe a month or two ago you guys were posting some old vinyls, one of your previous albums or something like that. Maybe even a year ago, there were some t-shirts and stuff. Sometimes it gets lost in the Facebook algorithm, but I remember seeing that and being stoked to see you’re still active on social media. Then when the single came out, probably about two weeks ago—was that right?

That’s right.

Okay, yeah. When that single dropped, it was awesome to see. I was like, “Wait—Novembre is still active right now?” I didn’t think you guys had stopped, but I was just like, “Oh, hell yeah!” It was great to see. I instantly shared it with all my buddies who know Novembre and posted it on my page.

It was refreshing to see that, and, yeah—it got me really pumped. That album cover looks great and puts you right back into that familiar Novembre mood. I’d like to talk about that later too—the cover and everything.

So, for the new album, in what ways would you say Novembre’s sound has changed—or maybe it hasn’t? What’s the difference between Words of Indigo and Ursa?

I don’t think there’s been a drastic or critical change at all. The only thing that’s improved, I think, is that I was able to give the songs the space they needed—the balance between the more aggressive and the softer parts—something I noticed was lacking a little on Ursa.

Maybe I had more time, or I got better at using home recording, because that’s really important. If you decide something’s not working, you either make big changes or you give up and keep it as is. And perhaps that’s what I did on Ursa—I kept parts that maybe today I wouldn’t.

It’s complicated to make drastic changes on a song when you’re home recording—you have to change timestamps and all that. Forget about it.

Also, Dan’s mix is more pleasant to my ears. In my opinion, this one is better—cleaner, more crystal. Long story short, I think this album is more enjoyable, at least to me right now. I hope for you too, guys.

Yeah, nice. Hell yeah. I was going to say that’s one of the biggest things that stood out to me—the mix and mastering from Dan Swanö. On the first listen, I really liked the overall sound, but I feel like each song is so unique. The album feels very progressive.

It still has that gothic sound sprinkled throughout, and there are still death and doom metal moments. But the song structures are very progressive—I noticed that even on the first listen. Once I went through the album a second and third time, different parts started clicking for me and interweaving throughout.

There are little moments that echo previous tracks, and the ending of the album feels full-circle. The record feels diverse, with so many changes and layers. I also noticed very methodical key changes within almost every song—and they’re so tasteful. The transitions never sound random; your vocals adapt right away, creating this dark, progressive vibe.

That’s one of the main things I noticed on this record. Also—very tasteful basslines during the ambient passages. Your vocals are more upfront, which I love. Both your clean and death vocals sound top-tier—better than ever. It’s refreshing, with amazing guitar leads and solos throughout.

You see, that’s thanks to the new lineup, which I guess we’ll talk about later. They’re really skilled guys, and they gave the album a true progressive feel. The drummer is incredible, the solos—everything.

It’s also good that you said you gave it two or three spins, because it’s a long, complex album. If you still wanted to listen again, that means the album flows easily, which is what I wanted to achieve—and I suppose I did, a little bit.

That’s the main difference from albums like Ursa or The Blue. Those are intense albums—perhaps too intense, if you know what I mean. It’s important for an album to flow smoothly for the listener.

Yeah, definitely. And about the lineup changes—you’ve got Elisio and Yuri—well, sorry, Fabio. I found out he was on Ursa too. I had to check Encyclopedia Metallum just to refresh myself. So you had Elisio and Yuri around 2022, right?

Exactly. The very new guys are Federico and Yuri—the drummer. Federico’s on guitar, Yuri on drums. And Fabio has worked with us on and off for a very long time—he played bass on Dreams d’Azur, Materia, and Ursa. So he’s not exactly new, but we made it official along with the others.

Great. And with Federico coming in, was the album halfway written before he joined? Did he do all the solos, or did he also participate in writing? Were the skeletons of the songs already there?

He’s a multi-dimensional guitar player. He’s more into rhythm parts, but he’s also a virtuoso. All the guys are teachers—they teach instruments at various schools—so they really know what they’re doing. The album was halfway written when he came in. He did a solo on “Your Allison” and reworked the rhythm guitars, improving them. Mine were simpler—he just made them better.

Nice. So, the album title Words of Indigo—what does that mean to you? And what are some of the lyrical concepts throughout the record?

For some reason, this time I wanted a plain English title. In the past, we’ve had Arte Novecento, The Blue, Materia—all those Latinisms. This time I wanted something in English. I wrote a lot of titles, but this one stuck—it just sounded right.

Also, I think I found a reason behind it. Indigo is a cold color; it represents a feeling, a mood. So, Words of Indigo means replacing rational, political, or philosophical concepts with feelings—because this time around, I didn’t have much to say rationally. These are horrendous times, and I just wanted the music to do the talking.

As for the lyrics, I write them last, because I spend all my energy on the music. I’m not so much into the literary side. So I sing mock words for the demos, and when it’s time to write the lyrics, I replace those with real ones—the first that come to mind. Each line means something: a memory, a feeling, whatever. It’s like being at a shrink’s office when they say, “Say something, anything.” That’s how you should read these lyrics.

Nice. Yeah, with that album title, I figured it was mood- and color-related. Might sound funny, but have you ever heard the term “Indigo Children”?

No. What is it?

It’s kind of like this psychic phenomenon—kids, usually between three and five, who claim to have memories of their grandparents’ past lives. They’ll describe those lives in detail, almost like they’re reincarnated or carrying on their spirit.

I don’t know how much I believe in it, but I remember hearing about it years ago. Some artists I listen to—The Underachievers—talk about it too. I didn’t know if your album title related to that, but now I know!

I’ll look into it.

Yeah! When I heard the title, that came to mind. Anyway, about mixing and mastering with Dan Swanö—remind me, was this the first time you worked with him, or have you worked with him before?

Oh yeah, we’ve worked with him ever since the band began. The first two albums were recorded at his studio in Sweden. Sweden was famous for Sunlight Studios and Unisound Studios—his studio—and he created the sound for bands like Dissection, Opeth, Katatonia, and many others.

Back in 1994, we decided it was worth spending our money to go there—it was also just cool to visit Sweden. We learned so much from him. We were both 19 back then, but he already had the experience of someone twice that age. He was an amazing sound engineer and a multi-instrumentalist—drums, keyboards, vocals—everything.

I absorbed everything I could from him and used it in my songwriting. We worked with him in person for the first two albums.

Later, he closed the studio and moved to Germany, so now we work remotely—just mixing from a distance. And he’s better than ever. He understands all the melodic intricacies and can help with notes, chords, everything. It’s stunning.

We only send him the DI lines—I refuse to send amp tones because I want him to create the sound from scratch, just like being there in person. The result is incredible. He even told me, “You can send recorded amps, but I guarantee I’ll get better results reamping everything.” So I trusted him, and that’s what we got.

Nice. So for this album, did you record everything at home and then send it to him?

Yeah, we recorded at home and in a few nearby studios—just the DI lines. The drums are real, of course, but he replaces the sounds—the toms, the snare, everything—so it’s like being there. It’s amazing.

Okay, nice. So, you mentioned reamping—do you know what amps you guys used or replicated?

No, because he does the reamping, and he doesn’t tell us anything. It’s very secretive. Sometimes I ask, “Hey, what kind of delay did you put here?” and he’s like, “Sorry, can’t say.”

Very interesting. And one last thing—since you play guitar and are always part of the songwriting process, do you handle leads and solos yourself, or are you more of a chords-and-riffs player?

Yeah, I’m more about chords and riffs. I’m not into solos and not really good at them. I’m good at creating mock solos, which I show to the guys, and then they play them properly. Sometimes they might lack ideas, and I’ll step in with something like, “Do this—blah blah blah,” and they make it sound right.

I was always curious—how was the Gothic slash Doom Death Metal scene in Italy, or in Europe in general, around the early 2000s versus nowadays? Like, was this niche genre more prominent back then, or does it seem stronger than ever now?

Well, that’s a little hard for me to say… let me think. If we’re talking about Gothic Doom, I think many bands came up perhaps more in the funeral doom area than in Gothic Doom—the very, very slow bands, you know? Bands like U Doom V, or I don’t know… These guys came up, as you said, around the mid-2000s to today.

Whereas the Gothic Doom scene—the one spawned by Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, early Tiamat, and that one—not so much actually. Also, I forgot to mention Katatonia of course. That one, not so much either. From what I remember, there’s not so much going on in that area except for the historic bands.

Perhaps there are events that I can’t remember right now, I don’t know.

So would you say there might have been more bands back then, like mid-’90s to early 2000s?

Yes, absolutely. The historic bands kept going on—kept carrying the torches and kept touring. Those ones obviously stuck around. But as far as underground or newer bands starting out, I think there were more back then.

In the mid-2000s to 2010s, I saw a growth of very simple doom, gothic doom—no, just doom, funeral bands. They were less intricate, less complicated, very easy to play. I don’t mean that disrespectfully—I like what I hear—but the complexities of bands like early Opeth? I haven’t heard things like that very much.

Yeah, I’ve always been curious, because there are so many subgenres associated with Doom. I myself am very particular—I like my death metal mid-tempo, not painstakingly slow. I need it to have a little death metal in there, but most of all, melodic guitars, a little melancholy. That’s why I like the “gothic” in there too.

Yeah, but the music you’re describing is not really easy to put together. You need to know what you’re doing with harmonies and everything. I’m noticing that people aren’t really into experimenting or studying music—classical music.

Because Gothic Doom comes from classical—Bach and all that—and church music. Paradise Lost, as Gregor Mackintosh recently said in an interview, comes from church music. You must be very open-minded to do that, and I don’t see that very much.

Yeah, that’s interesting. The guy from Paradise Lost said that? I can see it—organs in general, that full-circle kind of sound. It makes sense.

But yeah, I’ve always been curious about that question. I feel like around those times—mid-’90s—Europe in general just had more prominent bands compared to the U.S., with all the crossover of melodic death metal from Sweden and everything like that. It’s cool how it flourished through Europe and then naturally came to the U.S. too.

Awesome. Thanks for kind of going back in time.

So, what are some of your musical influences these days? Were there any particular bands or artists that consciously or subconsciously inspired you for the new album? Any contemporary bands you like, or still the older classics?

There’s a relatively new band, not very new, called Blood Incantation—unbelievable. But they’re not so much in our genre. So my influences are still the same—the bands of the early ’90s. But there’s so much outside of metal too.

The usual names: Pink Floyd, Tears for Fears, The Cure, The Smiths, and stuff like that. Those are the bands I listened to before I got into metal, and their music still influences me today.

Nice. Did you like The Cure’s new album that came out?

Carmelo: Yeah, very much! I was surprised. The Cure hadn’t released anything that good since, what was it, 1992? The recent one is amazing. I was totally surprised to hear such great songs in 2024—it’s incredible.

Yeah, I was surprised too. The songs are longer, but they don’t feel long—that’s how good they are at songwriting.

Exactly. That’s the point of it. Nine-minute songs, but you listen to them back-to-back. It’s amazing.

Yeah. And that’s the same thing with your new album. There are long songs, but the more I play it, the smoother it feels. A track I was really blown away by is House of Rain. And forgive me, I didn’t write down the female vocalist’s name—but that’s such a unique duet. I think she comes back at the end of the album too, right? Do you want to talk a bit about her and how that came about?

Carmelo: Sure. Perhaps you’re familiar with the Norwegian band The Third and the Mortal. Back in the day, there were a lot of avant-garde bands from the Nordic scene. I was a big fan of that band.

They had two lineups—one with Kari Rueslåtten and another with Ann-Mari Edvardsen. The albums with Ann-Mari stuck with me a little more, so I just wrote her and proposed that she sing on this song that I thought fit her voice perfectly. To my surprise, I learned that she had moved from Norway to Sicily—my hometown! She’s an opera singer at the main theater here. Can you imagine? A Norwegian in Sicily!

She accepted gladly, so I took a flight back, and we recorded it. The result is amazing. Her voice intertwines with mine perfectly. You should listen to their album Painting on Glass. It’s on par with Dead Can Dance. And about the last track—that’s actually me doing falsetto, not a female vocalist.

Oh wow! That’s quite a range you’ve got. My apologies, but that’s awesome. When you worked on House of Rain, did you have rough melody guidelines for her, or did she kind of improvise?

No, I came with the main theme and vocal melody, which follows the guitar harmony note by note. We both felt those were the right notes, so we kept them like that.

Nice. Sounds like a natural process. That’s a very unique song—it stands out, but it’s still strong. What track came the most naturally to write, and which was the hardest?

The hardest was the first one, Some Magenta. I was about to throw it away many times because I wasn’t satisfied with the result. It took me two years to get it right. The easiest was Your Housing—the riff came out, and the structure followed in about half an hour. The real beast was the first one, though. It’s satisfying when you win the war against a song that doesn’t want to come out. A few years ago, I would’ve given up, but this time I managed.

Yeah, I get that. The first track of an album often carries so much weight—it sets the tone.

Exactly. Another one I’m proud of is the instrumental Théernote (which means “Hyper Knight”). Being an instrumental, it’s harder to pull off. The vocals usually tie everything together, but when you don’t have them, it’s more challenging. I’m very proud of that one.

Nice. What would you say are your favorite tracks on the album?

Probably that one, and Itself. It’s very different from all the others—perhaps the only metal song with a falsetto voice. I’m so glad how it turned out. The atmosphere is great, cinematic—I love it.

Yeah, I agree. I’ve taken time to digest the album, and I’ll be writing a review closer to the release date. The more I listen, the more I love it. My favorites are Statua, Brontide, and especially Post Poetic.

Ah yes, Brontide! It’s actually an English word, though not common. It means the distant rumbling of thunder from a faraway storm.

Wow, that’s beautiful. I love the solo near the start, and Statua feels almost like a prog-rock song—then the last two minutes just soar. The key changes and your vocals there—that’s classic Novembre. And Post Poetic—that’s my favorite. The structure is so well done, catchy yet deep. The way you bring the chorus back at the end—perfect.

Thank you! That means a lot. Every musician dreams that their latest album becomes the listener’s favorite.

Definitely. And it truly is. I’d easily call this my favorite Novembre album. So, looking ahead—any plans for shows in 2026? Any chance of touring the U.S., or are the visas still a nightmare?

Yeah, the visa situation is tough. But we’re putting things together on the touring side. We just got confirmation that we’ll play with The Gathering—with their original singer—in Milan, Italy. For the rest, we’ll post news soon on social media. I really hope we can visit the States someday. We were in Miami for 70,000 Tons of Metal, but I’d love to come back.

Nice! How was that experience?

Amazing. Such a great experience—the organization, the people, everything. Someday I’ll go again as a visitor, not just as a musician.

Yeah, that’s around-the-clock, right? 24/7 bands playing?

Almost! They play until 4 or 5 in the morning. When most people are asleep, someone’s still on stage. Incredible.

Did you have a favorite band you saw?

Yeah—Cynic, which I love. Also Kreator, who we toured with in 2000. So many great bands.

Nice. And through Peaceville’s website, are pre-orders already up for the new album and vinyl?

Yes—the vinyl, CD, and digital. And I can tell you in advance, Blue will finally be printed on vinyl soon—the only one that hasn’t been yet.

Oh, awesome! I’ll definitely grab that—and Words of Indigo too. Any last words for the fans or viewers checking out this interview?

Just thank you for this very interesting interview, and I hope to meet as many people as possible somewhere around the world. It’s always great to meet people.

Coinciding with 35 years since Novembre’s original inception under the Catacomb moniker, and after an extended period of inactivity following the release of 2016’s acclaimed ‘URSA’ album, the newly reinvigorated Italian pioneers of atmospheric doom/death metal return with their most elaborately adorned and sonically refined opus to date in the shape of ninth studio album, ‘Words of Indigo’, set for release on Peaceville on November 7th.

For Fans Of: Sacturnus, Novembers Doom, Shores of Null, Les Discrets, Woods of Ypres, My Dying Bride, Draconian
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Categories: Interviews, Music, Novembre

Tags: Novembre