| CD REVIEW Memorial |
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Band: Memorial Memorial is a Danish Thrash band (with additional influences, but more about that later) which has been around since 1998! In contradiction to two other bands with the same name which were about around that time (a Dutch Black Metal act which delivered a demo that was then officially released in 1999…and an Irish Doom Death act which only gave the world their one 1997 demo) and have since ceased to exist, the Danes persevered, going through one line-up change after another, until their current membership got settled with Neil Poulsen (vocals), Kurt Soerensen (guitar & backing vocals), Martin Cuelo (guitar), Rune Sinnbeck (bass) and Jeppe Soerensen (drums). Things got a little more serious with the band when that line-up came together, and after recording their 2007 Tommy Hansen produced promo Collision Scenario, the quintet took for the road on their first European tour, supporting American Death Metal act Vital Remains during Summer. In February of 2008 the band announced that they would be roaming the European roads for the second time in September, when they would be giving support to British Grindcore masters Extreme Noise Terror on a tour through Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, and Austria. That same month, they also announced that they would be recording their first full-length during Summer with Jacob Bredahl (Barcode, Last Mile, ex-Hatesphere) at Aarhus’ Smart And Hard Studio. In May came the happy news that the band had signed a deal with the good people at Casket Music/ Copro for the future release of their album, and an additional European tour was being arranged as well. Barely out of the studio, the guys got the news that E.N.T. had had to cancel their tour due to their vocalist needing severe and urgent surgery…but the 2-week trip with Nocturnus (to which Punish, Violated, and Slither also participated) would still go through! Time to talk music…when surfing to myspace.com/memorialonline (where you’ll find 3 songs off the album and 2 off the 2007 promo) after having read through this review, you’ll be able to hear for yourself that Memorial’s Thrash Metal is drenched in a Death Metal with Progressive leanings and a Rock sensibility! In fact, If the band didn’t indicate themselves that they found inspiration from the likes of “…The Haunted, Pantera, Lamb Of God, Devildriver, and so on…”, you might be put on a wrong path when coming in contact with their music, thinking the influences come from Death Metal first! Whatever…the hybrid is a highly infectious one indeed, filled with the usual groove associated to the genre, and so catchy it’ll attract fans from both sub-genres for sure! By the way, the songs posted at MySpace have the weird peculiarity of being twice as long than on the album (“No Joy Remains” on MySpace lasts 9:23 and only 4:55 on the album, “Lights Go Out” lasts 8:27 versus 4:21, and “Walk With The Fallen” is 9:37 in stead of 5:05), a feat realised by the addition of an instrumental part and a return to one of the verses. Nice, but does this mean the fan can expect a seperate release with these “extended versions” on it? No news about that yet…weird also that the guys didn’t even bother to mention thr difference between the posted tracks and those on the album, wouldn’t you say so? Or perhaps they’re just trying to find out who’s awake and who’s asleep among the people giving them media attention! Heheh, you can definitively acuse me of bein’ in the first category! Anyways, it shows that the guys are prolific enough to realize such endeavours…see what I mean? I won’t go as far as to put the album in my year-lists yet, but I can tell you that the album díd give me some fun moments during listening sessions. In spite of the overall catchiness, there was still some challenge in the Progressive part of the music, and that’s what I like in the music I listen to! Too easily brought is too easily forgotten, and that’s one statement which doesn’t apply to Memorial…certainly not with their tactics of lengthier tracks! Yo, before I forget, album closer “My Creation” is brought in its full-length version on the album, lasting a mere 8:28, and it’s the only track the band did that for on the album, the other songs all cut to a max of around 5 minutes. Add a very short album intro (titled “Nothing Is Sacred”, it’s only 79 seconds on length) and you’ve got a 9-song album which clock off at just under 43 minutes! 43 very enjoyable minutes, as you may have gathered from my earlier statements. Maybe the guys will let us have the full-length versions of all songs…and get an even higher rating in the process as well. Wanna find out what the band is like on stage/ on the road? There’s also 4 videos from their 2008 tour! 90/100 Tony. |