Review
Alternative Matter
04.01.2012

Spanish melodic death metal band In Loving Memory have followed up their acclaimed debut full length album of 2008 Tragedy & Moon, with a release that carries more intensity and assured creativity than before. Negation Of Life sees the quintet delivering a deeper and better defined expressive collection of songs and intensity that feels like a natural progression and evolution from the bands inner emotions and energy. It flows without any element or sense of forced ideas or added thought, an album that moves with rippling power and melodic grace. On the negative side it also prowls with an even intensity that at times depletes the effect of the strong and lively creativity within, the power they bring forth single minded to the detriment of the strong emotive inventiveness beneath.

Consisting of Juanma (guitars & vocals), Jorge (guitars)Raúl (bass), Aitor (drums), and Alberto (Keyboards) the album released via Russian label Solitude Productions is a distinct change and positive evolution from its predecessor and even more so the band’s demo of 2006 when the band featured a female soprano vocalist. 2007 saw Juanma take over vocal duty and through various line-up changes the band found its own sound leaning heavily on more classic doom and death metal sounds. Formed in 2005 out of two bands Forensick and Lost Emotions, the band has moved far from their early gothic flavoured sounds into the dark brutal sounds and muscular intensity that flex and twist within Negation Of Life.

‘Even A God Can Die’ opens the album emerging from intrusive sonic squeals and predatory riffs lined with soulful guitars. Juanma’s bestial vocals deliver every word with malicious intent and threatening deliberation, his growling shadows wrapping around the emotive melodies and mid paced chugging riffs. The track plays like a declaration and introduction to something dark and massive about to emerge before turning into a celebration with a delicious dark piano led black melodic weave. Dramatic and proudly standing tall further piano counter play against the harsher sounds is glorious and already the album has its eager hooks into the senses.

The energetic and excitable ‘Skilled Nihilism’ next thrusts its wares into the ear. Like a wanton mesmeric beast it sways and beats a path through the ear with pumped up riffs and stimulating hooks. It is probably not the most inventive track on the release but its intoxicating determined to please accessibility is almost siren like and with added discordant asides alongside contagious keys it is a definite highlight.

From here on in the album is less consistent and though there is never anything less than strong accomplished songs and creativity unfolding the tracks vary in the depth they successfully engage the ear and beyond. ‘Adversus Pugna Tenebras’ is a forceful and attentive track with well formed riffs and melodic/harsh blends but struggles to engross in comparison to the likes of ‘Shimmering Divinity’ with its rampant battery of incisive and crusading riffs playing alongside sentiment soaked melodies. Every song upon Negation Of Life is well constructed and instinctively delivered but it is when the band steers slightly adrift from more conventional doom/death metal thoughts as in ‘Celestial’ that tracks ignite with something extra, a spark not present in every twist and turn of Negation Of Life.

In Loving Memory has returned with an album to please any death metal or doom fan giving plenty of punishing riffs, slow dirge like harsh intensity, and striking entrancing melodies. It is just lacking a continued eagerness to unleash unpredictable and unexpected directions throughout to set it apart from the crowd.

Author: Pete

Review
Iye Zine
05.02.2012

Gli In Loving Memory costituiscono, assieme agli Helevorn, la massima espressione in ambito death-doom della penisola iberica.

I doomsters spagnoli nascono come band nel 2005 ed un anno dopo pubblicano un primo demo influenzato da uno dei trend dell’epoca , ovvero il gothic- doom con voce femminile.
La scelta di virare verso sonorità più robuste, oltre a quella di affidare le vocals al chitarrista Juanma, si rivela vincente e già in “Tragedy & Moon” del 2008 vengono messe in mostra le qualità che ritroviamo in “Negation Of Life” , lavoro che presenta una band in grande spolvero e focalizzata sull’obiettivo di produrre un sound pesante e malinconico come il genere esige.
A tale proposito, posiamo collocare gli In Loving Memory nel solco stilistico tracciato, ad altre latitudini, dagli Swallow The Sun in particolare, ma senza che per questo la band rinunci ad esprimere la necessaria personalità
L’album è caratterizzato da riff robusti, solos malinconici, un growl corrosivo ed un lavoro di tastiere efficace senza essere mai invadente, il tutto supportato da una produzione encomiabile. Grazie a queste caratteristiche ed all’ottimo bilanciamento tra parti aggressive e momenti melodici tutti i brani si lasciano ascoltare senza alcun affanno.
La traccia iniziale, “Even A God Can Die” è forse quella che concede meno spazio alle melodie, riservando solo a qualche breve inserto pianistico il compito di contrastare la pesantezza delle chitarre e della base ritmica, ma già dalla successiva “Skilled Nihilism” la proposta degli iberici si fa più immediata ed accattivante.
“Adversus Pugna Tenebra” parte con un arpeggio delicato ed una voce sussurrata per poi sfociare in un riff melodico che ricorda un’altra grande band mediterranea come i greci Nightfall.
La title-track è un altro splendido episodio che, per le sue atmosfere malinconiche, non avrebbe affatto sfigurato in un capolavoro come “The Morning Never Came”, mentre “November Cries” e “Through a Raindrop” si rivelano più coinvolgenti nel finale quando la chitarre di Jorge e Juanma costruiscono linee melodiche struggenti.
“Shimmering Divinity” emerge come uno dei picchi dell’album grazie ad una seducente armonia chitarristica che lascia successivamente spazio ad un break di chiara matrice death per poi abbandonarsi a quelle atmosfere dolenti che, con la loro presenza, caratterizzano l’intero lavoro.
“Celestial” costituisce l’episodio più acustico del lotto, mentre “Nulla Religio, Solum Veritas” chiude l’album così come era iniziato, all’insegna di una rabbiosa malinconia tratteggiata da testi pervasi da una sconfinata amarezza .
La Solitude Prod. continua a proporci band relativamente nuove ma tutte di elevato livello e gli In Loving Memory non fanno eccezione, ottenendo il nostro un plauso incondizionato per la consistenza della loro proposta e per la capacità di fornire un’ora abbondante di musica emozionante.

Author: Stefano Cavanna

Review
Doom Metal Front
7.5/10

Erinnere ich mich recht, so heißt es doch im Musical My Fair Lady: „Es grünt so grün, wenn Spaniens Blüten blühen“. Bezieht man jedoch die Basken In Loving Memory und ihre aktuelle Veröffentlichung Negation Of Life in diese Überlegung ein, dann grünen u. blühen ganz im Sinne des Albumtitels atmosphärisch sowie textlich höchstens noch die Grabblumen. Dementsprechend melodiös Death-doomig eröffnet sogleich „Even A God Can Die“ den über einstündigen Reigen, in dem danach flotterer Melodic Death Metal die Oberhand gewinnt und ebenfalls elektronischen Dark Metal Passagen, wie im Song „Skilled Nihilism“, Platz eingeräumt wird. Dennoch kann man auch diesen Stücken einen gewissen Doom-Apil nicht absprechen, zumal in Tracks wie „Negation Of Life“, das eine sehr interessante Gesangslinienführung im Refrain aufweist, „Nulla Religio, Solum Veritas“ und dem bereits erwähnten Opener der Begriff Doom vom rein musikalischen Standpunkt ausgehend definitiv groß geschrieben wird und somit die Klassifizierung als Melodic Death Doom absolut plausibel ist.

Author: Slowmas

Review
Ave Noctum
6.5/10
11.02.2012

I had quite high hopes for ‘Negation of Life’, as a quick look at the band’s previous works suggested that it would be a melodic doom album with some bite to it. And sure enough, there are crunchy riffs aplenty to be found here. The band hail from Spain, and there’s a definite Mediterranean warmth and light lurking in their songs, contrasting nicely with the blunt force of the pounding rhythm guitar.

Things start out very promisingly with slow-burning intro track ‘Even a God Can Die’, a chunky, chugging, mid-paced beast full of mournful harmonies, simple, eminently headbangable riffing and hints of the choppy, clinical abrasiveness of Septic Flesh . ‘Skilled Nihilism’ sounds poppy and polished, with a spiraling Dark Tranquillity-esque melody wrapped around a wounderfully unpretentious heavy metal groove, whilst ‘Adversus Pugna Tenebras’ is similarly reliant on infectiously catchy chugging hooks and sorrowful leads, marching along in predictable but enjoyable fashion.

These more straightforward, poppier songs with their well-crafted melodies and undemanding yet wholly gratifying heavy metal riffs are the album’s main strength, as they are unaffected by the sometimes-lackluster songwriting that drags down some of the longer, less immediate tracks. The title track for example is lacking in spark, starting off strongly with Cure-esque clean chords and leaden riffs that seem to promise epic gothic doom to follow, but soon settling into formulaic plodding that struggles to justify its 8 minute runtime despite a solid drawn-out melodic solo. The uniformly monotone growled vocals don’t help either, sounding perfunctory and nothing more.

‘November Cries’ works better, starting with a gently meandering folksiness and repeating little three-note melody evocative of My Dying Bride’s ‘The Cry of Mankind’ before settling into a similarly gentle yet defiantly-upbeat melodic doom groove, slowly progressing and un-enveloping in a way that’s wonderfully bittersweet and sits somewhere between Insominum and Portugal’s Before the Rain. ‘Through a Raindrop’ and ‘Celestial’ are similarly rooted in the sorrowful Finnish melodic DM sound, sounding pleasant to the ear yet formulaic and lacking any of the kick of the opening tracks, whilst closer ‘Nulla Religio Solum Veritas’ has more impact, finally making good on that promise of some Mediterranean gothic doom proper, centering around a miserable, leaden-and-sprawling riff and gloomy chugging that would sound right at home on Before the Rain’s ‘One Day Less…’ album.

‘Negation of Life’ has quite a lot going for it. There’s no shortage of meaty riffs and beautiful melodies to draw you in, but the longer tracks tend to flounder about lacking direction, and the album drags considerably during the second half. It still makes for a pleasing and atmospheric listen, but with more varied vocals and stronger songwriting it could have been far better.

Author: Erich Zann

Review
Metalstorm
7.7/10
10.02.2012

In Loving Memory are a melodic death doom band from Spain and 2011′s Negation Of Life is the follow-up to their 2008 debut, Tragedy & Moon.

Their approach to doom is different than a lot of the more “extreme” stuff I’ve reviewed … rather than sitting on a riff for five minutes, and playing so slow it sounds like 15, they pick up the tempo to the point where the music is starting to migrate to other territory… although I’m not entirely sure where to put their flag on the metal map.

They also have a knack for switching up riffs with regularity, so every couple minutes something new is going on. Sometimes a nice melodic lead, at other times a staccato chunky chug riff, and there are a few headbangers are in there as well. They also pop in a few alternating leads to show off their chops.

In addition to varying tempos, incorporating the occasional clean guitar alongside distorted, blah blah, they also toss a few more instruments and effects into the mix, albeit rather sparingly. A piano surfaces from time to time to hammer some melodies on the low keys to add gravitas to a section here, or tension to a section there. “Skilled Nihilism” starts with a quasi-alarm and some blaster noises that reminded me of that opening scene in Star Wars, where Vader and the Storm Troopers started gunning down rebels. Needless to say, I was not expecting that…

So musically they play double-time doom while mixing up riffs like a good thrash band would. Where does the death come in? The vocals, that’s where. The primary mode of lyrical communication is one of those low-end growls that blow up speakers. While the music is uptempo and perhaps upbeat, the vocals manage to drag the whole thing down to a doomish-hell. In a good way, I suppose. Sinister whispers are also mixed in to decent effect.

If this review seems odd and perhaps clinical compared to my other doom reviews – you know, where I use 300 synonyms for woe or despair and rely on emotion to pass along my experience – it is because I found this album lacking in perhaps the emotional impact compared to others bands in the genre.

However what the band might lack in the “slit your wrists after listening” factor, they make up for in just keeping things interesting. I found it appealing on a completely different level. This might also be a place for those used to faster, more aggressive extreme forms of metal to dip their toes into the doom pool…

Author: BitterCOld

Review
The Pit of the Damned
7.5/10
06.03.2012

Gli In Loving Memory fanno sentire un po’ meno soli i connazionali Helevorn, in una scena death doom spagnola, che non appare proprio cosi affollata. Ma ben venga, se comunque le sole due realtà che esistono, messe tra l’altro sotto contratto dalla potente Solitude Productions, rilasciano ottime release. “Negation of Life” costituisce il secondo lavoro per la band di Bilbao, che propone un sound minaccioso nel suo incedere, tetro, oscuro e quanto mai affascinante, sin dalla opening track “Even a God Can Die”, un esempio lampante di death doom emozionale, legato alle trame chitarristiche che si intrecciano con un nostalgico pianoforte e un pesante growling. “Skilled Nihilism” appare invece con un fare molto più vicino alle melodie ariose dei finlandesi Insomnium, prima di lasciare posto ad una robusta ritmica e alle vocals di Juanma B. che provano a ricercare un’intuizione più cibernetica, che potrebbe conferire un pizzico di originalità in più al prodotto, se solo usate in maniera più massiccia; comunque al termine del suo ascolto, “Skilled Nihilism” si rivela proprio vincente, forse perché cosi easy listening, con le sue facili melodie che si stampano immediatamente nella testa. Il cd prosegue e con esso la voce cerca di mutare, trovare nuove strade, come pure la maglia musicale degli In Loving Memory, che prova a sfuggire agli stilemi del genere, in cui appare ancora palesemente cosi imbrigliata. Leggo un forte desiderio da parte del quintetto basco, di proporre qualcosa di diverso, che si traduce in linee più armoniche delle chitarre o nell’uso di vocals sussurrate. La title track si apre con un bell’arpeggio, anche se poi a prevalere è la componente death doom malinconica, di chiaro (e consueto) riferimento ai danesi Saturnus. Passo avanti, fiducioso di poter trovare qualche nuova intuizione, qualche lampo di genialità inespressa nei solchi di questo platter, che pur proponendo un genere assai roccioso, non scade mai nella noia. Un sussulto, si ecco quello che cercavo, “November Cries”, sembra estratta da “The Angel and the Dark River”, capolavoro dei My Dying Bride. Lo so, lo percepisco, gli In Loving Memory hanno la luce di chi ha la voglia di cambiare le regole, di chi non vuole stare più al gioco, solo che sono ancora intrappolati, ma sono certo che ben presto la loro vera natura potrà emergere ed esplodere. Ulteriori segnali emergono chiari con “Shimmering Divinity”, song lenta, meditativa, capace di creare un evidente senso di sospensione, come se qualcosa di brutto stesse per accadere, ma che in realtà non riesce a trovare forma. Si prosegue con una serie di song che fanno del senso di inquietudine ed inadeguatezza su questa terra, il loro punto di forza, per un album i cui temi (trattasi di concept) sono in realtà legati all’inesauribile lotta fra bene e male (evviva l’originalità). Poco importa, si arriva in fondo al cd soddisfatti per aver scoperto una nuova interessante realtà, all’interno del sempre più popoloso marasma musicale, una nuova band che se riuscirà a percorrere una sua strada, potrebbe aprire nuove frontiere in un genere il cui rischio è quello del collasso su se stesso. Ora o mai più per osare.

Author: Francesco Scarci

Review
Femfogacs
7.7/10
21.03.2012

Nagyon szép, és információdús könyvecskét kaptam a kiadótól a CD-hez, de ez a Solitude Productionstól nem meglepő, általában nem tökölnek promós verziókkal, küldik a teljes anyagot tokkal-vonóval. A spanyol In Loving Memory lemezét ők gondozzák. A CD hallgatásakor (legalábbis számomra) átjön, hogy latin csapatról van szó, sajnos annyira nem egyediségként, inkább csak abból hogy másik vidéken megszületett stílusokat hívnak segítségül a komponáláskor. Második lemeze ez a zenekarnak, és mivel az előző már 2008-ban megjelent, nem a sebesség bajnokai, főleg ha azt is figyelembe vesszük, hogy a koncertdnaptárjuk sem túl sűrű.

Nincs intro a lemezen, ami üdítő lehet, hiszen manapság egy kicsit unalmassá vált, hogy minden banda egy másfél perces bevezetőt tesz az anyag elejére. Nos a Negation Of Life egyszerűen csak elkezdődik. Erőssége az anyagnak a tempó viszonylagos változatossága, viszont furcsa az összkép, mert a zene jó, csak valahogy a nagy mellbevágás maradt el.

Részletezve…
A hörgés nagyon durva, az ilyennel csak az a baj, hogy akinek ennyire jól meg, az abba sem akarja hagyni. Szóval Juanma B. személyében nem üdvözölhetünk egy újabb Csihar Attilát igaz, a megnevezett úr a gitárt is kezeli a torka mellett.
Időnként leállnak a torzított gitárok, és finom akusztikus pengetés kezdődik el, ami alól okosan morcog át a basszus. Ennek a hangszernek a jelentőségét a fémzenében erőteljesen sikerült letagadni az elmúlt időkben, pedig önmagával cseszik ki, aki ezt teszi. Illetve a lemezével. Itt a hangszerek eléggé a helyükön vannak hangzásilag, beleértve a basszust is.
A dob totál oké, nem érzem azt, hogy több kéne belőle. Hadd vigyék a lényeget a gitárok, hiszen ez egy szép zene tulajdonképpen. Néha beugrott az Amorphis hatásként.

Én erre az anyagra mondom azt, hogy nem elsőre hat, de legalábbis nem lehet elsőre megítélni az értékeit. Pontozni is nehéz egy ilyent.
A hangzás nagyon jó. Nincsenek idegesítő véglet-frekvenciák, és itt most a pincemélyekre és a sivító magasakta gondolok. Egyszóval emberbarát, nem bálnáknak és denevéreknek dolgozott a hangmérnök. Bármily hosszú, könnyedén végigpörgethető fülessel hallgatva is. Az ének néha kiugrik sztereóba, ami hatásosan tornáztatja meg az esetlegesen elfáradó hallójáratokat. Ez az alulról nyolc pont, amit adok rá, erősen szubjektív, ne tessék itt arra gondolni, hogy komolyabb hibák lennének a lemezzel, egyszerűen nekem nem tetszett annyira, mert ismerek ennél jobbat a műfajban.

2011 november 21-én látott hapvilágot a korong a Solitude Prod kiadványaként. A felvételek 2010 októbere és 2011 februárja között zajlottak. A banda a honlapján megemlíti, hogy a kiadónál hiba történt, és a borító más tónussal lett nyomtatva, mint ahogy azt leadták (így sem rossz…). Nagyon részletes és érdekes a honlapjuk, de egy kicsit káosz is.

Legfőképpen azoknak ajánlanám ezt az albumot, akik már be mernek vállalni hörgős metalzenét is, de még nem tudták elengedni a dallamvilágot. Ügyes keverék ez tehát. A műfaji besorolása elég nehéz. Valami melodic és valami death. De nem a kettő klasszikus értelemben vett elegye. Márcsak a tempó miatt is. Higgadtabb, átgondoltabb lemez ez ahhoz képest.

Author: Nagaarum

Review
Metalizer
5/5
03.04.2012

«Даже Бог может умереть» – заверяют нас испанцы In Loving Memory в своём втором альбоме «Negation Of Life». Прежде всего, надо отметить очень качественную работу, представленную на релизе. Множество исходов непредвиденного развития основной музыкальной сюжетной линий поражает. А взяв за фундамент мелодичный doom-death, музыканты умудрились сделать его экстремально энергичным, сочным, приправленным красивыми и быстрыми партиями бас-гитары, которая зачастую регулярно выделяется больше остальных инструментов. Разнообразные ударные создают неповторимую атмосферу, а гроулинг вокалиста весьма удачно вписался, звуча на релизе именно не фоном, как это обычно и бывает, а всё-таки ведя за собой на лидирующих позициях весь альбом, он словно плывёт по волнам таинственности и загадочности, повествуя нам о различных аспектах жизни.

Главные достоинства релиза – интенсивность, абсолютная ненавязчивость, глубокий бархатный вокал, прогрессивность и не заезженность рифов. Каждый изгиб мелодичных моментов изящно прописывается сквозь композиции, искрящими своей безудержной экспрессией. Здесь и в помине нет раннего ароматизированного готичного звучания. После ряда изменений в составе группа нашла свой собственный почерк, все треки исполнены так, будто декламируют своего рода введение во что-то тёмное, гротескное и массивное. Видимо, вкусные клавишные формируют это превращение в праздник отрицания жизни со своими собственными понятиями расставленных приоритетов.

Шестнадцатистраничный буклет приятно расписан, выполненный в едином стиле с музыкальным материалом. Он такой же плавный и равномерный, но со своими посаженными акцентами и приковывающими взгляд пятнами выделяющихся фрагментов, содержащих изображения различных статуй. Уверена, что в данном случае кроется определённая концепция, но мне так и не удалось её разгадать, к сожалению. Релиз предоставлен BadMoodMan Music.

Author: Валентина PANTERA Катышева

Review
Pavillon 666
8.5/10
04.05.2012

IN LOVING MEMORY se forme en 2005 à Bilbao en Espagne. Les quatre musiciens sont issus de deux groupes différents. Le guitariste Juanma et le bassiste Raul viennent de FORENSICK, tandis que le batteur Aditor et le guitariste Jorge ont joué dans LOST EMOTIONS. Finalement, Juanma prendra le poste de chanteur en 2007 après qu’une chanteuse soprano ait occupé le poste. Le groupe sortira un premier album autoproduit en 2008, « Tragedy & Moon ». Finalement le groupe connaîtra encore des changements de line up en 2010, mais aussi l’opportunité de signer avec le label russe Solitude Productions, ce qui leur permettra d’enregistrer ce deuxième album « Negation Of Life ».

Bénéficiant du support d’un label, la production de cet album est de qualité. On pourrait même dire que l’ensemble sonne très professionnel. Il faut ajouter que le groupe y a passé un certain temps et que donc le résultat se fait sentir. Une bonne production est toujours un atout majeur et IN LOVING MEMORY l’a très bien compris en n’en négligeant aucun aspect.

Le style du groupe est assez diversifié. Ces musiciens ne se contentent pas de jouer sur la lourdeur classique de ce style. On dépasse les gimmicks habituels pour donner un certain entrain aux morceaux. Ainsi, « Skilled Nihilism » laisse de côté les tempos et l’effet compresseur pour rendre un morceau plein d’énergie avec un certain côté “pop” dans sa musique. Bien entendu, le chant est très profond et guttural à souhait. Pour ça, certains morceaux sont plus appropriés à rendre toute la puissance et la lourdeur contenus dans cette voix. Les titres les plus lourds tels que « Nulla Religio, Solum Veritas » rendent compte de la puissance générée par le “doom” plus traditionnel. Cet album possède l’intérêt non négligeable de varier les plaisirs et du même coup rendre cette écoute fortement agréable. Car que ce soit le premier morceau « Even A God Can Die » ou d’autres titres tels que « Shimmering Divinty », on sent un propos étoffé qui ne se contente pas de répéter inlassablement la même chose. Au contraire, à l’écoute du titre « Negation Of Life », on apprécie l’utilisation de différentes sonorités incluant quelques notes en acoustique. Mais plus que tout, IN LOVING MEMORY arrive à capter une grande attention par un travail de qualité sur la composition jusqu’aux arrangements très bien ficelés.

Une attention toute particulière est demandée aux aficionados du doom/death. Si parfois les groupes ont une certaine tendance à se contenter de jouer sur les tempos lents, IN LOVING MEMORY, à la manière d’un NOVEMBERS’ DOOM élargit les frontières de son style pour délivrer un message pesant aux arrangements riches et percutants.

Author: CHART