Sound Of Memories came into existence back in 2010. This Paris, France based band is listed as a melodic death metal but in effect plays death metal complemented with a variety of heavy and thrash metal riffs. Despite already having celebrated their first decennium as a band, they do not have a huge discography to show for it, with only an EP and a full-length on it. This has partly to do with their slow start, the band was only completed member-wise in 2013, up until then they were mainly experimenting with their style. After slowly extrapolating their desired sound and having established their course the quintet were finally ready to release their first fruit of the loom, the EP which is entitled Living Circles and which arrived in September of 2013. Their first full-length album, To Deliverance, was released two years later and last December the boys unleashed their latest work of art onto the world. This too is a full-length album and it’s called The Sand Within. It offers almost fifty minutes of music divided into eleven songs. The lyrical concept deals with the endless, unchanging cycle of human reproduction that doesn’t seem to get rid of its flaws and mistakes, as they are equally endlessly repeated, but remains a shimmer of hope at all times.
Title song and opener The Sand Within is essentially a two-minute introduction that start rather peaceful but builds towards what this album really is about. Partly, because despite this build up successor Life Ascending turns things up another notch right from the start, with a sweet old school thrash-based riff and ditto structure. Sound Of Memories leaves little to the imagination where it comes to their musical intentions, winning me over in less than a minute here. The double bass, the humming bass loops, the angry hoarse yet strongly varied vocals, the tight riffing, this composition ticks all the right boxes. Surely a brilliant start and one that will stick to your head for a long time to come. State of Grace, the next song of this album, has a similar vibe, but with Soul Asylum there’s a distinct change in the tunes. The speed goes down a few notches, but the music still breathes the old school vibe of the previous songs. The rest of the album unravels pretty much along these lines with very appealing songs that predominantly balance on the line between thrash and heavy metal with the emphasis on either of the two varying within every song. In itself more than enough reason to justify a high rating for this album, but to top it off the album is riddled with more or less striking details that lift The Sand Within to an even higher level. The awesome solo in Fate and Doom, the at times surprisingly mild The Shivering Whisper, the drum lines in Fate and Doom and the Slayer-like intro of Black Virgin are only a few examples of this.
Basically Sound Of Memories display a lot of different approaches that eventually lead to the same result: Great, strongly old school influenced thrashy death metal with a modern touch and high attention to detail. The tunes are gripping and certainly an invite to a good neck muscle workout, with Life Ascending as the pinnacle, without downplaying the rest of the songs. Though quite intricate in their variety and versatility, all songs are both easily accessible and highly entertaining, making this an appealing release to a wide range of metal fans. Why we got the chance to review this one only just now is beyond me, but there is no doubt the guys have produced an album that they can only be proud of and, at least in my opinion, certainly deserves worldwide attention. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if this turns out to be an instant classic around the globe. Anyway, better late than never, this one is definitely recommended by yours truly.
