Memory Garden - Verdict of Posterity
Metal Blade, 1999
Gloon:
Memory Garden play mid tempo heavy power/prog metal (no whiney guitars here folks) and display influences from a variety of metal genres and bands. The opening couple of songs bring to mind 90s Death and Control Denied with their bass sound and breaks and there are other nagging familiarities throughout the album. Nevermore can also be cited as a reference point with vocal delivery and tempo in 'The Sum of all Fear' and 'Split Image' sounding very 'Dreaming Neon Black'. Memory Garden however, though possessing some of the traits of the great bands mentioned, does not reach the heights of any of them. Most of the songs are slow, too slow with little to no tempo change throughout the album, common fellas bring the heat! This makes listening to the album as a whole a very mind numbing experience. Problem two, the vocals. Like the music they seem content, even happy, to stay within the same monotonous tempo displaying little range and little versatility. Couple this with the fact that most of the songs go for around 4-5 minutes and you have one fairly long drawn out boring album. The closer 'Amen' finally offers us some variation with some piano and a more mellow approach, but even it is still too slow and long to keep your attention. Overall not an album to be ashamed of, just a bit too predictable and long.
Favourite Tracks - Carved in Stone, The Sum of all Fear
Rating - 6.5/10 |
