ALBUM REVIEW: Moments To Remain – Act Of Creation
ACT OF CREATION’s fifth album is an unusual affair. While it’s been 14 years since their debut, they’ve told a story throughout these albums that connect and expand with each output. On Moments To Remain the tale is about reviewing an entire day with various different topics on each song. This isn’t unusual so far, but the thing which will catch you off guard is the CD & LP versions are different, the difference being the CD version has three additional bonus tracks. And as the band are telling a story it’s confusing as the first track, which is also a bonus track, seems to be the true opening to the album.
As the album opens with Awake, a ticking clock is heard and the band, acting as the alarm, blare into action to awaken you from your slumber. Throughout the next 53 minutes and 12 songs you’re treated to a melodic death metal subjugation. The flurry of winding riffs from the fingers of guitarists Carsten Schluch and Goksel Hamali create a complex act of destruction.
Drummer Dirk Meyer-Berhorn, who isn’t an official member but drums on the album, is as savage as he is fast. His uncompromising abilities behind the kit, which are showcased fully on recent single Under Friendly Fire, are a great fit for the album’s raw fiery songwriting. Cry Of A Peacecrow, which is also a bonus track, brings about the first semblance of true emotion. The instrumental which was both written and recorded by former bandmate Dimitrov Ivchenko is a beautiful heartfelt dedication to all those who have been affected by war in any shape.
At the centre of the album is vocalist Jessica Nicole Kork. Her pained shrieks are bellowed through the album, forcefully cutting through the instrumentation on tracks like Dying Inside and Agonizing Slumber. At points throughout Moments To Remain, she does resemble Alissa White-Gluz, but with more venom in her delivery and screams. While some melodeath records do sound alike from start to finish, ACT OF CREATION have taken their time and recorded each song to feel different from one another, so while the album is a concept album and tells a tale, you can easily listen to each song on its own and feel it’s still cohesive.
The final song, also a bonus track, is Into Dreams. It’s another instrumental, which actually brings the album to a loop, forever restarting and replaying. Ending and opening with the ticking clock is a brilliant addition as the album concept revolves around time. It’s a breathtaking, neck-breaking and unrelenting album which is performed incredibly by the German quintet.
Rating: 7/10
Moments To Remain is set for release on July 19th via Massacre Records.
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