Memorial to Suffering

Right from the first couple of seconds of this album it’s clear that we’re dealing with funeral doom metal, and after a few minutes it’s clear that we’re dealing with some kick-fucking-arse doom metal! This is actually a re-release of the bands ´96 demo, and I would never have guessed this to be a demo. The sheer competence and amazing sound would have made me guess that it might be the third album of a well-established act, and definitely not a debut demo released during the same year as the bands creation. Now don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of Painful Memories before, I hadn’t until I got this promo. They only released two demos and then split up, which is definitely unfortunate considering the brutality of this album.

Music wise I’d say this falls somewhere in between Mournful Congregation and Mourning Beloveth, and considering those are two of my favourite doom metal bands that’s not a bad comparison. Heavy, slow and depressed doom with some amazing melodies spicing things up. The powerful, deep growls delivers the misanthropic, suicidal lyrics with great perfection. And some bits of the lyrics are just mind-blowingly powerful in its simplicity, like for instance "why do we roam about the earth possessed by vain hopes of changes? Death is inevitable" (from track two, Why?). To me that says it all. No matter if you own the old demo or not this is an essential buy as it contains a previously unreleased live video as well. Without a doubt one of the best albums I’ve heard in the genre!

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net