Memoriam
Mid-tempo, tank-like death metal grooves that prioritize heavy atmosphere and weathered grit over speed. A somber, powerful tribute to the old school Birmingham sound.
Mid-tempo, tank-like death metal grooves that prioritize heavy atmosphere and weathered grit over speed. A somber, powerful tribute to the old school Birmingham sound.
Memoriam sounds like a slow-moving armored division. It is heavy, mechanical, and seemingly unstoppable, yet it carries a distinct human weight. Unlike the hyper-fast technicality of modern death metal, this is music built on the 'tank' groove: a steady, punishing mid-tempo pace that allows the riffs to breathe and the bass to rattle your sternum. There is a visible layer of soot and history on everything they record.
What makes them distinctive is the sense of mourning baked into the aggression. Formed as a tribute to a fallen friend, the music feels like a living monument. Karl Willetts' vocals have aged into a commanding, gravelly roar that sounds less like a monster and more like a weary general recounting battles won and lost. The production avoids the sterile digital click of modern metal, opting for a warm, thick analog punch that recalls the early 90s UK scene.
Start with 'For the Fallen' to hear the band at their most emotionally raw and structurally focused. It perfectly captures the transition from the members' legendary pasts into this new, more reflective chapter of old-school death metal.
Memoriam is a death metal band from Birmingham, England. The band was formed in 2016 by former Bolt Thrower vocalist Karl Willetts, alongside Scott Fairfax (Ex Benediction & Ex Cerebral Fix) on guitar, Frank Healy (Ex Sacrilege, Ex Benediction & Ex Napalm Death) on bass and Andy Whale (Ex Bolt Thrower) on drums. In 2020, Andy Whale left the band and was replaced by Spike T. Smith (Ex Sacrilege, Ex The Damned). In an interview, Willetts stated that the band was originally formed as a tribute to the late Bolt Thrower drummer Martin Kearns. To date, the band has released five studio albums, two of which reached the charts in Germany, For the Fallen at number 16 and The Silent Vigil at number 32. The band's latest album, Rise to Power, was released on 3 February 2023. The band originally signed to Nuclear Blast, but left after the first three albums for Reaper Entertainment, a new label established by previous Nuclear Blast employee Florian Milz. In an interview with MetalTalk, Karl Willetts said that work was underway for the next album. "We don't rest on our laurels," he said. "We are driven by Scott's [Fairfax] phenomenal songwriting ability. That is all he does. That's what Scott lives to do. He gets up at breakfast, goes to work, paints four cars, comes home and then throws himself in the studio and writes songs every night. We've probably got enough songs in his closet for about another six albums!" The band's first fully narrative & performance-based music video for "All is Lost" (from the album "Rise to Power"), directed by Hal Sinden of Eulogy Media Ltd., was released on 9 December 2022.
Shares death metal, brooding, somber, gravelly (signature)
Shares death metal, brooding, somber, gravelly (signature)
Shares death metal, gravelly, fog, intense (signature)
Shares death metal, mournful, brooding, somber (signature)
Shares death metal, gravelly, fog, intense (signature)
Shares death metal, gravelly, intense, defiant (signature)
Shares brooding, death metal, somber, gravelly (signature)
Shares death metal, gravelly, fog, intense (signature)
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