Memories of a Dead Man - V.I.T.R.I.O.L (2012)

Arriving from France, today we have Memories of a Dead Man and their latest full-length release “V.I.T.R.I.O.L”. Featuring a mixture of Post-Metal with some Hardcore influences, this band fits perfectly with bands like The Ocean, Year of No Light, Rosetta and Cult of Luna. Delivering 11 soul pounding tracks, this release is as heavy as it is complex, and we completely love it.

With soaring guitars and brilliant Post-Metal sections, “Tomorrow, at Dawn…” sets the bar for this release pretty high. The pummeling guitars are nicely offset by some female vocal sections that give a very nice melodic edge to this track, without losing any of the gritty heaviness in it.

The slow buildup of tracks like “An Ode to Myself” and “Trismegistus King” provides a nice change of pace when other songs like “Diving Bell and Butterfly”, “Meshi’ha”, and “On the Heights of Despair” start off with very brutal openings and slowly drift into different tempos. The band does a great job in crafting tracks that are melodic and heavy with very dominating guitar sections and intricate tempo changes.

Guitars are what drive this release and the band does a great job in packing each song with razor sharp riffs. The drumming is very compact in nicely defined in all tracks, but it sometimes gets lost in the background when the harsh vocals are at full swing and the guitars pound away. Some of the song sections that feature backing vocals like on “On the Heights of Despair” are very well crafted and add that little element that adds melody to the aggressive riffing. This is something very well created and perfectly designed to soften the aggression of the music in particular sections.

Coming to an end with “INRI”, “V.I.T.R.I.O.L” is a release with plenty of mood changes and a healthy balance of both excellent Post-Metal arrangements with more rudimentary Hardcore passages. The band does a great job in delivering powerful song structures and excellent instrumentation, that when paired with the crystal clear production, they give you a very solid release. If you are looking for something to satisfy your crave for more The Ocean or Rosetta, look no further and give Memories of a Dead Man a try.

Release: April 20th, 2012

Country: France