Forgetting the Memories – Vemod
Release Date: 24th September 2021
Label: Long Branch Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Metalcore, Deathcore.
FFO: Parkway Drive, Chelsea Grin, The Devil Wears Prada, As I Lay Dying, For All Eternity, Kill The Lycan.
Review By: Ryan Shearer
I never judge a book by it’s cover, but I will admit, I do judge on song titles. Only a little, mind you. Vemod by Swedish metalcore/deathcore quintet Forgetting the Memories has some fuckin’ cool song names. The Solstice Rebirth? From Soot, Komma Skall! You’ve got to love those; they made me think it’s going to be a heavy listen, and it certainly was, in more ways than one.
Forgetting the Memories claim Vemod, and their wider style, is a unique blend of deathcore and metalcore. Cowards Tongue veers more into the deathcore influenced metalcore with its more riff-focused construction, and album closer Trauma leans more into metalcore influenced deathcore with dissonant leads and soul-crushing rhythms. Beneath the Creek features symphonic elements, From Soot features a chorus fitting for arena play and Cowards Tongue features calmer melodic sections; all of these embellishments work to break up the unrelenting heaviness. The blast beats in Mask Ov Lies and screeched vocals before dark synths lean into blackened deathcore territory. There is a relatively wide net cast on the influences of this album that all feel comfortably infused into the Vemod recipe without sounding overburdened or unfocused.
Vemod has a few things working for it, one of which is the sheer aggression and brute force coupled with the near constant harsh vocals, which lends itself to going down incredibly well in a live setting. It has been built to tear out some spines in a mosh pit like an audio version of a Mortal Kombat fatality. The guitar tones and general mix is concentrated on being as nasty as possible whilst retaining a level of polish expected from modern core music, which work to highlight what it needs to. With Buster Odeholm (of Vildhjarta & Humanity’s Last Breath, two of the heaviest things in the universe next to the element Osmium) at the helm, it’s no surprise the mix was designed to make the album sound destructive.
However, Vemod gets repetitive quickly. Tracks generally across the board are difficult to distinguish between, and although there is unmistakable talent (shout out to Johan Blomberg on drums, his chops, speed & accuracy are impressive) the songs all begin to blend into one. With contemporaries like Lorna Shore and Humanity’s Last Breath taking the deathcore genre into new and disgusting directions, Vemod feels like Forgetting The Memories are reliving the memories of metalcore inspired deathcore and creating more of what came before.
(3 / 5)
