Review: Croona – 'Memento Mori'

CROONA 

'Memento Mori' 

INFACTED RECORDINGS 

Fredrik Croon already has an impressive resume that boasts industrial and aggrotech acts such as Menschdefekt,Project Rotten and Cynical Existence. However, this time around he's gone in a slightly different direction, dropping the heavily distorted vocals of his previous work, and embracing a cleaner singing style. 'Memento Mori' is an album that leans heavily on the melodic and emotional elements of genres like futurepop and synthpop, while still embracing the dark electro and metal influences of his previous work, in a blend he has christened Aggropop.

The result is a more diverse and and varied approach that pushes his skills as a songwriter into new and interesting directions. There are still dark elements bubbling away below the surface and the odd heavier embellishment, but overall this is a richer and more melodic style that retains a solid dance appeal and feels more well rounded that the unfettered aggression of previous projects.

Songs such as 'Into The Shadows', 'Mine', 'Ashes From The Past', 'A New Dawn', 'The Day I Died', 'Rise Again, and 'When all Is Said And Done' give the album a solid back bone of dance beats, trance-like melodies, airy textures and clean that definitely play up on the pop element of his self-christened sound. Yet tracks like 'Bleed For Me', 'Regret', and 'It's Over' with their darker tones and harsher vocals provide a nice heavy counterpart and link back to his previous works.

In terms of production the album definitely captures more of the polished 'pop' feel than the heavier offerings in Croona's previous projects. It's still hits hard where it needs to and even the instrumental tracks maintain a compelling edge despite their dance floor focus. It effectively switches between the dark, heavy elements and the more melodic and leaves the album feeling nicely balanced.

This is a strong outing from Croona and it's definitely something he should build on, playing with the nature of his new aggropop style and seeing how far he can push it in every direction. Hopefully there will be much more in the near future.

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Review: Sahg – 'Memento Mori'

SAHG 

'Memento Mori'
INDIE RECORDINGS 

Are Sahg still a super group? It's the question on everyone's lips with the release of their fifth slab of stoner/doom metal. Having over the years lost their most prominent members in the form of bassist King (ex-Gorgoroth) and Einar Selvik (Wardruna) Sahg has become somewhat of a revolving door project which has always lead to some trepidation for every new release. The band's last outing in 2013, 'Delusions Of Grandeur' was undoubtedly their greatest achievement to date. But will the same be said of their latest offering, 'Memento Mori'?

Another lineup change now sees the inclusion of Ole Walaunet (Gaahl's Wyrd) and Mads Lilletvedt (Hellish Outcast), but will it be enough to continue the run of great performances we've seen over the past few releases?

The album is pretty solid in terms of songwriting, with doom and gloom being the primary tools. Tracks such as 'Black Unicorn', 'Take It To The Grave', and 'Sanctimony' lead the charge with slow morose numbers that do justice to the band's doom credentials, while the likes of '(Praise The) Electric Sun', and 'Travellers Of Space And Light' satisfy the band's prog and psychedelic aspirations. The final track 'Blood Of Oceans' is a bit of an unexpected but welcome twist as the group delve into viking territory for an undeniably heavy closer.

The band don't quite gel on a couple of tracks though. 'Devilspeed' and 'Silence The Machines' are lacklustre cuts that attempt to pick up the pace but come off as a poor effort at taking a page out of Amorphis' most recent chapters. But they just don't quite get off the ground.

Those are fairly forgivable though when compared to the album's production which seems to have lost all of the organic warmth of 'Delusions...'. Instead we're treated to a fairly cookie cutter presentation that leaves quite a few of the tracks sounding flat and quite, well... un-Sahg-like.

Given the magnitude of the achievement that was 'Delusions Of Grandeur', album number five was always going to have a lot to live up to. But unfortunately 'Memento Mori' is a bit of a mixed bag. There are some utterly brilliant examples of the band's songwriting with the likes of 'Black Unicorn', 'Sanctimony', '(Praise The) Electric Sun', and 'Blood Of Oceans'. However, as a whole offering it unfortunately falls short.  

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