UMUR
"Rise To Power" is the fifth full-length studio album by UK, Birmingham based death metal act Memoriam. The album was released through Reaper Entertainment in February 2023. It´s the successor to "To The End" from March 2021 and the lineup who recorded the predecessor is intact.
Memoriam continue to play an old school death metal style, which is influenced by the heavy and predominantly mid-paced death metal of lead vocalist Karl Willett´s former band Bolt Thrower. Memoriam are little more melodic though and sligthly more varied in their songwriting too. The material is well written and relatively memorable, but the overall quality is nothing spectacular for the genre. The musicianship is strong, but again nothing out of the ordinary for the style. Willetts has a recognisable voice and delivers his mix of growling and hardcore barking as usual.
The album features a well sounding production too (although the drums could have prospered from a more organic tone) so upon conclusion "Rise To Power" is another decent quality death metal release from Memoriam, but it´s not a groundbreaking release in the genre, and there are far more interesting contemporary death metal releases than this one out there. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.