emperorblackdoom wrote:
I remember this album having a few standout tracks and bunch of less than interesting ones.
I think I've heard everything from this band and I'd say their two best albums were Novembrine Waltz and the rerecording of their first album, Dreams d'Azur. Novembrine Waltz sounds similar to Classica, just with more standout points, Dreams d'Azur is a collection of great tracks that meshes more progressive musicianship with Opeth/MDB/and Edge of Sanity.
I agree with Milan that their middle and later periods showed them developing their own sound, with less overt influence from the above mentioned bands, problem is, that period (partially excepting Novembrine Waltz) follows a pattern of generally being boring.
When I want to hear Novembre, I listen to Dreams D'azur, even if it less original than what followed. Sample track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boAekWd1bmIEdit: apparently this album is
very hard to find now, fortunately it is all right there on youtube.
I only have this one and Novembrine Waltz. At first I wanted to review the latter because that one stood out to me more than Classica. Unfortunately there was already a review for it so I just reviewed this one. I'd say your description of Novembrine Waltz is quite accurate. And Dreams d'Azur sounds very appealing, I need to check it out sometime.
I assumed Classica would be very hard to find but to my surprise I found it in my local metalstore a while ago and it is indeed the reissue Karma mentioned.
@DI: Definitely check this band out, although now I'd recommend starting out with Novembrine Waltz or perhaps Dreams d'Azur (although I haven't heard it but I trust EBD's judgement).