"Nothing Stays Hidden In Daylight" focuses on exposing demons hidden deep inside of us - facing them and letting them out to find peace within – Novere.
Something is happening in the UK post-metal scene in recent years and it’s like a drug you take for the first time, just to test the waters, because you know how to avoid becoming addicted to it, right? But like any possessive substance, once it seeps into your bloodstream and gives you that euphoric escape, you keep coming back for more, and strive to find a bigger hit and a greater high. Well, musically Novere are one of those seriously addictive hits of post metal that will fill your senses and consume you, with all the emotional and heart-breaking highs you can expect from a band that are already at the top of their game.
Nothing Stays Hidden In Daylight is a soulful and intimate journey into the realms of loss, love and uncontrollable addiction. Its stark and brutal concept along with its crushing riffs and pummelling percussions is softened only by its haunting vocals, sullen-soaked atmospherics and carefully constructed song writing. Four tracks somehow manage to skull drag you through a whirlwind of emotions, beginning with the furious and chest-pounding Hydra. Deep, gravely vocals immediately grip tight and slowly constrict you, under a filthy riff and a barrage of drums. Its powerful, it’s abrasive and in complete contrast to where the track goes soon after. The soaring and near celestial vocal disparity from earlier is a thing of beauty and adds a truly unique approach to such a hardened, sludge driven sound. That rich bass guitar sounds huge behind such a clear vocal delivery and really comes into its own during a beautiful harmony-laced passage. However, the track, erupts once more, bringing more fire and fury along for the closing scenes! What a beast of a track.
The ability to braid together bleak and downcast moods with uplifting shards of light makes Aphelion an absolute juggernaut of a track. Influences are a plenty here, ranging from the harshness of Cult Of Luna or Isis, to the more melody strewn side of bands like Tool and A Perfect Circle. It weaves and spirals through many emotions making it a track that can mend and break you in an instant. It is such an amazing track. Dance Macabre on the other hand is a very different proposition, with its Planet Caravan rumblings and its soft and subtle take on extreme music. Stark and simplistic, it just soaks in through every pore and tranquilises the listener for a while.
Closing with Cromlech, a track that is equally as good as everything that has gone before it, has a near psychedelic intro to it, a little funky, but still sickeningly sinister. More harsh growls crush the atmosphere, and rips a hole in any neurotic trip you may have been under. Lead guitars meander and crawl through those thundering riffs, adding layer upon layer, and bringing the album to a vicious and bitter end.
This is only Novere’s first full album, following an EP and a single, but holy shit, Nothing Stays Hidden In Daylight Is an absolute triumph. It’s dark and it’s heavy and it will leave a scar that will never heal. Sublime!
https://novere.bandcamp.com/album/nothing-stays-hidden-in-daylight