Artist: Memoriam
Title: For The Fallen
Genre: Death Metal
Release Date: 24th March 2017
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Album Review
Overall I think this a quite a satisfying album. It does not have odd time signatures or abrupt key changes that abruptly stop a head-bang mid groove. There is no pretentious or unneeded arty embellishments here, just plenty of guitar generated grooves backed by tight and efficient double kick drumming. This is just a plain satisfying album with some good old punk attitude thrown in for good measure.
I say satisfying also because my ears don’t need a long break after the last track finishes, I dived straight back in for a second listen. Who are MEMORIAM? I never heard of them until this time last week. They hail from England’s second city Birmingham and were formed in 2016 from ex members of BOLT THROWER, CEREBRAL FIX and BENEDICTION. This album which is their debut, and getting on for three years old now is a fine statement of intent to get the ball rolling and I don’t think there is one track on here that I don’t like.
The whole album was consumed numerous times whilst I was in the midst of a vacuuming frenzy and I will tell you that standing on a chair to clean a bookshelf and listening to ‘Reduced To Zero’ whilst playing air guitar with the vacuum hose was just as satisfying as consuming a well-earned and very much needed Sunday Roast! ‘War Rages On’ had me back down at floor level because I thought a trip to the hospital might be on the cards if I contorted like a demented statue three feet off the floor!
And the same goes for the punk pogo vibe of ‘Corrupted System’. The energy and urgency of this track had me wriggling and writhing around the lounge so fast I could have blown all the house dust out the door on my own! Squeals and bends coaxed and teased out of the guitar on ‘Surrounded By Death’ and complimented by a tight thick satisfying bass imbibed my very being with an assertive and intense demeanour, the same for following track ‘Resistance’ suffused with what I consider fine tremolo picking!
‘Last Words’ the final track is a hypnotic sludgy trope that feels both ponderous and enlightening! The lighter moments played out by a soaring meandering guitar that conjure images of crows flying over the river Gjoll into the place that is Hel. I feel like I am looking back on my life, taking stock of it before saying “Ok, here goes, take me because I am ready!” Those are my “last words”.
Tracklist
01. Memoriam
02. War Rages On
03. Reduced To Zero
04. Corrupted System
05. Flatline
06. Surrounded (By Death)
07. Resistance
08. Last Words
Line-up
Frank Healy – Bass
Andrew Whale – Drums
Scott Fairfax – Guitars
Karl Willetts – Vocals
Website
http://www.memoriam.uk.com/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
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