Reviews: Memoriam, BRUIT ≤, Giant Sleep, Seven Doors (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Memoriam - Rise To Power (Reaper Entertainment)

Birmingham brutes Memoriam, continue to be the yang to Sabaton's ying as their blistering death metal tells of the harrowing brutality of war.  For this fifth album they kick off with Never Forget, Never Again (6 Million Dead) which holds an additional impact so close to Holocaust Memorial Day (when I was listening to the album), Karl Willetts' trademark bark, reminding us that this level of evil and blatant ignorance should never be let to repeat itself. 

With The Great War, it's loss, grief and dehumanisation being the focus of their bile and bite on their first three albums, their central protagonist in the concept living his life through this, then dealing with the aftermath on their fourth. This fifth album is the second release in their second trilogy (the last one coming next year at this rate), their death metal assault here is based on WWII, more modern conflicts too, but with the same feelings from their previous release as the central character becomes 'king'. Total War featuring some urgent bass from Frank Healy and artillery like blast beats from drummer Spikey T. Smith, it's the second part of the two ragers that open this record. 

It's I Am The Enemy that moves into the other side of Willett's raison detre, as the clean repetition of Scott Fairfax's guitars, drive a slow, persistent grind, the drums building and slowing in pace as we get those more melodic and doom elements that came in on their 2021's To The End, The Conflict Is Within too continues with this shift between melody and violence. Russ Russell again handles production and makes it sound dirty and authentic to the history of DM but also that modern surgical approach striking a good balance between both. Exploring a wider range of sounds again, track such as Annihilations Dawn touch on the Swedish melodeath scene, the title track adding yet more doom and Karl getting to shout the word "Rise!" which will obviously be in their live show. 

This Pain closes the album with a more...progressive(?) side, displaying that Memoriam can achieve a much more comprehensive sound than just the savage death metal they are celebrated for. 9/10          

BRUIT ≤ - Apologie du temps Perdu Vol.1 (Pelagic Records)

There are bands who evoke emotion, but few that can quite capture French Ennui better than Toulouse band BRUIT ≤. Their debut album The Machine Is Burning And Now Everyone Knows It Could Happen Again got a perfect score from me when it was released and it looks as if the follow up EP will get similar. Sorry to give the game away so early but at times this EP almost feels transcendent as if all other forms of music exist purely to be used here. That may sound like hyperbole but with just three songs, that do have long run times, this quartet ruminate on post rock, ambient, trip hop and classical textures, all these styles colliding to become not just a beautiful soundscape but an escape. 

I said on the last review that you should listen to this band with headphones and I'll have to reiterate that again here. It's the only way you can really 'feel' this album, let it wash over you in cascading waves of musical dexterity but also restraint and repetition. Since their full length they have travelled Europe performing and their improvisational style was pushed further each time, leading them to look inward on Apologie du temps Perdu Vol.1. Sociologically and ideologically inspired by nothing at all unlike their debut, it's meant to be a pause, an excuse to lose yourself in music. 

A transitional release between their last full length and their next one. Embracing ambience, Clément Libes' violin sits at the core of the release under the ambient and orchestral textures of cinematic opener La Sagesse De Nos Aïeux, the theme to an imaginary noir it sets the tone for the rest of the EP. Recorded and mixed on an old tape recorder, the result was then manipulated and mutilated, layers with synths and other instruments to bring the desolation to Rêveur Lucide, back masking used to swallow you as it transcends into a trip hop beat. Translated to "apology for the time wasted" it's a misnomer really as there's no time wasted at all here, music to take you away from the humdrum into somewhere more ethereal. 9/10

Giant Sleep - Grounded To The Sky (Czar Of Crickets)

You know when a record just hits a sweet spot? That intersection between all the bands you love, performed brilliantly and making you want to listen to it all again as soon as it ends? Well for me and my influences Giant Sleep are a band like that, the German/Swiss combo features ex-members of Destruction, Fear My Thoughts, K.O.C and Disgroove and play riffy, groovy, proggy heavy rock that's a mix of Tool, Pink Floyd, Monster Magnet and Candlemass, reminding a lot of Greek band Nightstalker and also Audrey Horne. Having release two records before this, which I will definitely be checking out, their third release Grounded To The Sky, has the primal percussion of Tool on track such as Davos where the thunderous rhythm section of Radek Stecki (bass) and Manuel Spänhauer (drums). 

The title track too has that groove as it also has some bluesy, single note Gilmour-like guitar solos. Patrick Hagmann and Tobias Glanzmann, lifting off into the atmosphere on the climax. As Siren Song goes full Pink Floyd, with that recognisable guitar work. There's a lot of desert psych rock riffing on Silent Field, a pocket full of swagger on Good Boy driven by one damn fine heavy riff, while Shadow Walker takes things into a heavier Genesis. The songs featuring the Wyndorf-esque vocals of former Destruction man Thomas Rosenmerkel, who has such a brilliant vocal. The ethos behind the band was to create music that feels classic but without leaning into the retro market favoured by a lot of bands. 

An album that deals with dichotomies with a strong sense of justice on the furious Davos, rich with twin axe attacks. Grounded To The Sky is such a joy to listen to, socially sculpted to be progressive but not too introspective in it's virtuosity. Even on a track such as The Elixir where you are taken on an 8 minute journey, they keep things energetic as it transitions between it's sound shifts. I adore this record, I'd never heard of the band before this and I'm kicking myself as they are most definitely my 'thing'. Plenty of of time to deep dive and a perfect score. 10/10 

Seven Doors - Feast Of The Repulsive Dead (Redefining Darkness Records) [Matt Bladen]

The solo project of Deadwood Lake live guitarist Ryan Wills, Seven Doors is a bloodsoaked death metal band that focuses on horror themed imagery inspired by the often ultraviolet and sickening blockbusters and B-Movies that are often straight to VHS, or banned outright. Wills plays everything on this record heavily influenced by the likes of Malevolence and Cannibal Corpse, as well as acts such as De Profundis and Skeletal Remains. Those bands guitarists; Paul Nazarkardeh and Chris Monroy/Mike De La O bring guest solos to The Morbid Mortician and Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers respectively.

Gnarly death metal is what you get on this full length debut, following on from The Gates Of Hell EP in 2021, it's ten tracks of blastbeating, guttural growling and fretboard shredding death metal, that has been crafted by an absolute horror fanatic to indulge both his loves. Ryan even goes as far as bringing in Slasher Dave of Acid Witch to do an unsettling intro to set the atmosphere. Ten pit starters that will get the blood flowing, from where though is another matter entirely. 7/10