Forsaken Memoriam - (2014) Forsaken Memoriam

"Forsaken Memoriam is a heavy rock band formed in mid-2011 in Heraklio, Greece. Influences include 70s hard rock, heavy metal and psychedelic rock creating a unique mix. Since then they have played numerous gigs in Greece gaining an underground following and have shared the stage with many bands from the stoner rock scene in Greece including Nightstalker and Planet of Zeus. In July 2013 George joined the band as a bassist and Adonald focused solely on vocals due to medical reasons."

I've been wanting to give this band some kudos for awhile now, but it seems I've got no time to do anything, especially sit and type up some long winded analysis of this album. I do have a bit of free time today to make a post... and give some props.

When I first caught wind of this album I thought it was some sort of extreme dark metal band with growling, cookie monster vocals or some such thing. Purely judging by the bands logo and album art. Having a very short attention span like most people these days, that almost was enough for me to disregard it. However, I was intrigued that they hail from Greece so I dug in a bit (so many great bands have come from there in the past). I'm glad  I did, what I found was something interesting. "Forsaken Memoriam" aren't an easy band to pigeon-hole into a specific genre, and I like that. There's a lot going on within their self-titled debut album's eight tracks. Wearing their influences on their sleeves, they take cues from Prog-Metal, Grunge, Doom, Psyche, Southern Metal... you name it, it's in there somewhere. Even obscure nods to 70's rock, and of course the more modern Stoner Rock sounds run throughout the album. When you combine all those things sometimes something magical happens.

Albums that keep me interested throughout the whole duration and returning for more, are more and more a rare occurrence these days. This being a debut from a relatively young band, I for one, am interested and curious where these guys will go from here. For fans of everything heavy, this is a keeper. Available on compact disc and digital download. 
-AW