Musically defying. These are my initial words about Crown of Madness with “Memories Fragmented” via Transcending Obscurity Records. If I may, if record companies had a face, “Memories Fragmented” should be theirs. This album challenges everything I thought I knew about Doom Metal. There are times the music in here looks like a wicked Free Jazz with lots of distortion. Coming to think of it, Crown of Madness are only two members; Sunshine Schneider responsable for the guitar, the bass, and vocals, and Connor Gordon the one with the drums. Incredible.
Besides the challenging musicality, “Memories Fragmented” has so many plot twists that an unadvised fan might get a headache trying to figure all of them out. “Sovereign Blood” goes like this with cadence and tempo shifts that might let anyone insane. Add to that the very strange tones of the guitars, a mix of low tone with out of tune. By the way, dissonances are the rule here with tracks as “When I Don’t Remember You” whose real meaning I do not even want to know due to the terrifying mood of the lyrical content of the songs.
Even though the darkening and challeging mood of “Memories Fragmented,” there are tracks as “Deafening” that are absolutely standard Death Metal. Its speedy calls the eyes as well in an album that is so slow as hell. It calls the attention the way vocalist Sunshine Schneider – is it his real name? – does it by vociferating the lyrics in a way that grays all my hair. The mood Crown of Madness give to the album is very horror-struck. Bass lines, for instance, they work as an emphasizer of the terror driven atmosphere with their extreme low tones played slow as hell as in “Grand Design.”
Fun fact is that I could sense some subtle, but striking melody listening to “Grand Design” and other tracks amybe due to the jazzy structures they hold. More notably, due to these jazzy influences, album opener “Visions From a Past Life” gave me the same impression as well. It is also fantastic how easily Crown of Madness give a 360º shift to their instrumentals.
Musically challenging, that’s what I would add to my initial impression of “Memories Fragmented.”
Crown of Madness “Memories Fragmented” will be released on February 28th via Transcending Obscurity Records.
Track Listining:
1. Visions From a Past Life
2. Sovereign Blood
3. Burdened
4. Ashes of Mine
5. When I Don’t Remember You
6. Deafening
7. Sea of Fangs
8. Dreamless Nights No Longer
9. Hollow Thresher
10. The Grand Design
Watch “When I Don’t Remember You” official lyric video here:
Source: metaladdicts.com
