Shattered Earth Records is a relatively new label with ties to the excellent Dragoncorpse and has awesome bands like Hanging the Nihilist, Spitpool, Obscure Mantra, Loathsome and The Pelennor Field Tragedgy (yes, epic Tolkien-themed deathcore) on their roster. So when they sent me the new release from Memento Mori, I had to check it out….eventually (sorry for the belated review guys).

Memento Mori is a US duo comprised of Matt Hampson and Gage Smith (former vocalist of Negative Space) and they are here to make deathcore nasty again.  Listen, I’m all about the current deathcore trend of orchestration, commercialization, and memorable songs ( yeah, Lorna Shore and their ilk), but sometimes yah just gotta get dirty, discordant, and downright heavy, and the 7 songs here do just that.

A while ago I discovered a band called Dead/Awake, and it was some really gnarly deathcore beatdown with some programming thrown in, Memento Mori gives me similar vibes with their lurching atonal riffs and jarring injections of keyboards, programming, and even trip-hop beats (“Onset of Calamity”). And the keyboards aren’t epic, symphonic stuff, but disturbing, dark, brooding injections that match the more downtempo, beatdown riffs as the piano that starts the utterly brutal “Spawn of Woe”  and its late brooding synths show. “Pain Remains: Dancing Like Flames” this is not.

A downright nasty guitar tone and bass give this thing depth and heft with a sense of real dread with a more downtempo Distant sort of pace and heft, but nastier and more menacing. From the absolutely disgusting opener “The Old Chaos” to the closer “In Search of Solace”, this (thankfully) short little album is an absolute beast and honestly gives my recent deathcore listenings a much-needed injection of hate and malice.

[Visit the band's website]

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