Memory Garden - Carnage Carnival
Vic Records
Power/Doom Metal
10 songs (51:30)
Release year: 2008
Vic Records
Reviewed by Thomas

This is the fourth full-length from these Swedish lads. Memory Garden are often described as a doom metal band, which I find a little odd. This is dark, yes; however the power metal melodies and occasional dips into progressive metal territory are very apparent here. So, don’t expect straight-out doom my depressed friend, this is both happy enough to please a power metal fan and sometimes diverse enough to wake up the progressive metal fan in y’all. Considering these guys were signed to label giants Metal Heaven, it is rather strange that they haven’t earned more press. After being dropped some years of silence followed until Vic Records picked them up and released Carnage Carnival in September 2008.

I’m definitely no Doom metal expert, so I don’t entirely know what to compare this to. However, these guys are more in the Candlemass musical framework than in the older Sabbath-like one or the ultra-depressive My Dying Bride stuff. The vocal work is clean and pretty similar to typical power metal in terms of style, and although this is pretty heavy and mid-paced stuff, Berglund manages to fit in due to the several nods to power/prog. The guitar-work on here is handled by Simon Johansson and Arkala Mäkäla. They are regularly using 7-strings which fit the mood pretty well, and the crushing and big riffs are creative enough to make this pretty entertaining trough the whole album. They manage to create a dark and morbid, if not grotesque mood, especially on the title-track. Seeing the album art combined with the title and the melodies creates the perfect interpretation of a real horror carnival. However, on the slower stuff, the riffs tend to get very boring, like on the dull Nameless and slow Beggars Anthem. The lead work is very fitting with the music, never overly technical or show-off, but on the other hand flowing very well with the atmosphere on the different songs. As far as the drumming goes, this is the same drummer that is behind the kit of Nightingale and Memento Mori. In other words, quality is what you’ll get, and although the drumming sounds a little uninspired sometimes, on this isn’t hard to track down because of all the hooks out to catch your attention.

The songs here vary between slow and crushing songs and faster and livelier stuff like the title-track and The Bitter End. Both styles are executed properly, however, the faster songs are more exciting and seem more thought through. The slower doom-y stuff struggles to keep my attention at bay, and I have caught myself skipping them several times during my listening sessions. Then on the other hand, if you’re a big doom metal fan and like the gloomy atmosphere these songs carry chances are that you’ll enjoy this. ‘Cause even without keyboards, these guys create different songs with different moods and emotions targeting them with their guitars and vocals. Memory Garden is worth checking out if you’re a fan of the clean, more melodic and slightly faster side of doom. If you’re a power metal fan who has grown tired of the ever-growing generic flowery scene, chances are that you’ll appreciate this as a little different and gloomier. This is pretty good, but there is however room for improvement. An enjoyable album, although my attention occasionally slips. Definitely worth a listen or two.

MySpace
Killing Songs :
Carnage Carnival, The Bitter End, A Dark Embrace
Thomas quoted 75 / 100
Other albums by Memory Garden that we have reviewed:
Memory Garden - Mirage reviewed by Danny and quoted 80 / 100
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