Tides

Memory Garden is a unknown – or maybe very unknown- doom metal band from Kumla, Sweden, yes another great band that doesn’t get the fame they deserve.

The music nailed on this great piece of album is heavy crushing doom metal with great vocals from Stefan Berglund. We also get some awesome drumming from Tom Björn, who shows up some cool skills. The riffing on the album isn’t really Candlemass / Black Sabbath-like but still very doomy, touches of traditional heavy metal is also there. In fact there’s not a song on here that is bad, except maybe the little half-drag ballad “Blissfull”.

The albums kicks of with “GENESIS”, heavy stomping crush riffs, a very good album opener. The interlude starting at 2:10 is also very strong. The next song “DREAM HORIZONS” which marches on with riffs that sounds a lot a lot like the first song’s. But who care’s, it kicks. The difference is though the melodies, which is here a little bit happier than the first song. The heavy part that begins 4:06 is of course very pleasant. It’s just to bang the head, dear friends. 3rd is “THE RHYME OF THE ELDER”, a very heavy verse, follows with a nice and calm chorus. The interlude are even heavier riff-parts than the verses. The 4th song “TRAPPED AT THE PHAROHS” is (again) a ultra-heavy song. The drums can be more heard in the verses as they play a big role in this song, a fairly melodic chorus. This song has one of the better riffs part of the album, starting at 2:32 proceeding over 1 minute. Hell yeah. Impossible not to bang the head ? Yes, sir !

Now we’re halfway through the album, but beware “JUDGEMENT DAY” is another great heavy track. Starts with a thing that sounds like a little baby’s “sound-toy” or something, but lucky enough it ends pretty fast and we get some doom riffs, which then leads into a heavy stomping riffing verse. I really like Memory Garden’s verses on this album. So heavy and so awesome ! “THE INNOCENT SLEEP” follows, the intro almost sounds like Falconer could’ve done it, in other words, it sounds a bit medieval. And then of course, the fucking heavy riffs comes ! Oh hell, do I sounds repetive ? Sorry, all riffs really kicks, that’s why ! And of course, the songs has a excellent interlude, very heavy..and also the first guitar solo that has a little length. 7th song is “ A NEW DAWN” has also, very doomy and heavy verses, but a pretty lame chorus. Doesn’t click, just feels boring. At 3:05 everything slows down with a nice slow part with just bass and Stefan speaking. Followed by a little solo, not too long. And the album ends with the fairly bad ballad. Not the worst I’ve heard, but far from the best too. It’s a piano-played ballad, so no acoustic guitar here. Stefan puts a lot of emotions in the vocals here, he does a great work.

The production of the album is very raw and heavy sounding, which maybe is a little but surprising when it’s a “underground” band like this. The vocals is pretty high-mixed, but that’s only good..at least in this case. Anyway, maybe you’ve realized that if you’re out for a band who plays guitar solo’s for many minutes, then turn away. There aren’t many solo’s here, and if there are they’re very short. But instead we get a whole bunch of crunchy riffs, and that’s a big part in the metal genre, in my opinion. So, this is CLEARLY a heavy/doom metal album I recommend to you, with great songs and good efforts from the band. And if you’re a fan of Candlemass, you’ll probably like this album too !

Vocals: 8,5/10…Production: 8,5/10…Drumming: 8,7/19…Compositions: 9,2/10.