MEMORIAM — To The End (review)

MEMORIAM — To The End album cover Album · 2021 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"To The End" is the 4th full-length studio album by UK, Birmingham based death metal act Memoriam. The album was released through Reaper Entertainment in March 2021. It´s the successor to "Requiem for Mankind" from 2019 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as drummer Andrew Whale has left and has been replaced by Spikey T. Smith (Sacrilege, English Dogs).

The material on 9 track, 44:46 minutes long album is a continuation of the old school death metal style of the three predecessors. Featuring members (or ex-members) of seminal British death metal acts like Benediction and Bolt Thrower, it´s no surprise that the music is slow-to mid-paced old school death metal with lyrics dealing with themes of war and death (or the prospect of death). Lead vocalist Karl Willetts puts on a strong performance here. His vocals are slightly more varied than before ranging from fully intelligible growling to shouting hardcore influenced vocals. The latter style is not the dominant vocal style on the album, and it´s more a touch of hardcore influenced vocals than actual hardcore influenced vocals (predominantly on "Failure to Comply" and on "Mass Psychosis"). When Willetts performs the latter mentioned vocal style I´m reminded of the very early Bolt Thrower releases, which also featured a hardcore edge.

"To The End" is predominantly an old school death metal release though, and the album features heavy dark riffs and equally heavy drumming. There are some great gloomy and atmospheric lead guitar work on the album too, which provides the music with an extra dark spice. There are only a couple of really slow and doomy tracks on the album, and while those tracks are both effectful and well written, Memoriam shine more when the pace is a little higher. "To The End" is never a fast played album, but Memoriam excel in mid-paced heavy grooves and majestic commanding moments (not completely unlike the best works of Bolt Thrower).

"To The End" features a powerful, heavy, and brutal sounding production, which suits the material perfectly and upon conclusion it´s a strong album release by Memoriam. After a career start which wasn´t 100% convincing, Memoriam seem to have picked up the pace and "To The End" follows up the high quality of "Requiem for Mankind (2019)". A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
BitterJalapeno wrote:
more than 2 years ago
This is growing on me more and more with each listen. Really loving it as well as Requiem for Mankind. Yet to check out the previous two albums.
Nightfly wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Good album, their second best I would say.
BitterJalapeno wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Enjoying this one too. Good riffs and great production.

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Rankarumpu Folk Metal
KORPIKLAANI
Buy this album from MMA partners
… And the Universe Keeps Silent Death Metal
MAERE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Le bannissement Atmospheric Black Metal
CANTIQUE LÉPREUX
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tarantula Heart Sludge Metal
MELVINS
Buy this album from MMA partners
God Damned You To Hell Traditional Doom Metal
FRIENDS OF HELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Fallen Ashes - Wage War (Official Lyric Video)
FALLEN ASHES
Bosh66· 9 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Unreality (Single) 2024
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 9 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Cold Hands
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 9 days ago
IRON MONKEY - Misanthropizer (Official Music Video)
IRON MONKEY
Bosh66· 11 days ago
??? (Losing ART) - "????" (Official Music Video) [HD]
漂浮者樂團
Bosh66· 12 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed