I know it may seem this site has turned into metalcoreofthedivine.com as of late, but in all fairness we are A) trying to clean out the backlog of 2010s releases, and B) we are traffic whores and the ‘core be bringing the traffic, yo.

In all seriousness, just click on the review of Hate‘s Erebos or Belphegor‘s Blood Magick Necromance if you’re going to get your Satanic little panties in a wad about another Christian metal review here at Teeth of the Divine. Especially when the debut from Minnesota’s Your Memorial is the second best metalcore album I heard in 2010, (very closely) behind Amia Venera Landscape‘s The Long Procession.

With tangible nods to fellow Minnesotans Nehemiah and After the Burial, and even with a few expected ambient moments, Your Memorial‘s Christian take on the genre isn’t quite as rangy and post-rock imbued as Amia Venera Landscape, preferring a more direct lurching, heaving pace littered with well placed and well done shimmering swells of rending melodic moments that have a heavy Misery Signals feel. Even more so with the guest appearance by Karl Schubach on “Surface”.

Ultimately though, Your Memorial is still a Christian metalcore act, and comes with the expected caveats. For me though, Atonement is as near to a perfect modern metalcore records as you can get, regardless of religion. The melodies are gorgeous, the breakdowns are heavy and the vocals impassioned as well as free from overly emo crooning (“Surface” is the only number with clean vocals). Each track just delivers the goods, whether it be the killer chord progression of opener “Endeavor for Purpose”, the sturdy opening chug of “Hope Era”, melodic canter of the title track, truly beautiful heft of “Not Fallen”, and elegant solo in “Unseen”, its just obvious that Your Memorial ‘get’ their chosen genre sublimely.

With interludes “Desolation”, “My Path is Set” and “Surrender” providing amply Christian introspection, the album’s pacing is also perfect, and even though some may simply label Your Memorial as a mere Misery Signals clone, it’s Facedown’s best release in a long time and I’m OK with that as you can never have too much of a good thing.

[Visit the band's website]

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