ALBUM REVIEW: Requiem For Mankind – Memoriam
Birmingham’s MEMORIAM have been a busy bunch. Forming in 2016 by vocalist Karl Willetts as a tribute to the late, great Martin Kearns of BLOT THROWER fame, the quartet released an incredibly well received demo that same year, following up with a full length each successive year. 2019 proves to be a continuation of the trend with MEMORIAM releasing their third album in as many years, Requiem For Mankind. Following on from last year’s The Silent Vigil and their 2017 debut For The Fallen, is Requiem For Mankind a signal of band beginning to run out of steam or are the four-piece going stronger than ever?
Willetts and co waste no time with a prolonged introductory track, dropping lead singles Shell Shock and Undefeated into play like artillery shells. The first taste of Requiem For Mankind shows MEMORIAM on a form they’ve never quick achieved thus far, bringing classic UK death metal aggression and groove in spades with Shell Shock. Immediately noticeable, Willetts has stepped up his vocal game considerably for this record – indeed, this is the best the death metal veteran has sounded in decades. As Shell Shock fades away, Undefeated crashes in with a heavy dose of swagger. Sparse vocals allow resident axe-man Scott Fairfax to build a nice level of atmosphere amid the brutality, and the chorus serves as a highlight moment from the entire album with a memorable swing to the riffage.
Never The Victim stamps itself as clear moment of memorability with melodic, grandiose riffs only briefly giving way to a grinding assault. Fairfax gets an opportunity to flex his shredding chops, delivering some of the stand out guitar work not only from Requiem For Mankind, but MEMORIAM‘s entire discography. With all the subtlety of a Howitzer, the quartet smash into the politically charged Austerity Kills, bringing a dose of punky venom into play that fits the lyrical content perfectly but feels thematically a touch out of place with the rest of the album, before the groove-laden, atmosphere building In The Midst Of Desolation and the epic Refuse To Be Led make themselves known as stand out moments.
Infectious, doomy and crushing, The Veteran comes in hard, showcasing some Sacrament-era LAMB OF GOD riff-work before dropping the tempo to a dirge-like stomp. Requiem For Mankind‘s title track delivers a level of darkness and brutality that is almost unprecedented for MEMORIAM, crushing its way to the top end of the band’s “best of” lists. Tremolo riffs bring a bit of a blackened edge to the soundscape; a move that definitely benefits the band. The quartet keep the momentum rolling forward with the blasting Fixed Bayonets that again shows a degree of songwriting chops and attention to the subtler details that we just didn’t see in MEMORIAM‘s first two offerings. Unfortunately, closing track Internment feels a bit wasted, built on a repeating riff that is doused in melancholy and darkness could have been built into a stunning epic, but never really goes anywhere.
In the band’s short lifespan, MEMORIAM have been pretty polarising with listeners either praising the modernised, BOLT THROWER-esque brand of death metal or shrugging the band off as a boring carbon copy. While that criticism is perhaps a tad too harsh, it would be fair to say that For The Fallen and The Silent Vigil both lacked a certain magic spark. However, Requiem For Mankind sees MEMORIAM firing on all cylinders, gelling together as songwriters in a way they hadn’t before to create their finest offering to date. A touch overlong, and the album could do with a bit of trimming, but for the most part, MEMORIAM have finally hit their stride. The ghost of BOLT THROWER casts a long shadow, and though the band still have work to do to shake off the ever-present comparison, if Requiem For Mankind is a taste of what the real identity of MEMORIAM consists of, they are a welcome addition to the upper echelons of the UK death metal pantheon.
Rating: 8/10
Requiem For Mankind is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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