Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Tears Of Mankind - Memoria (2011)



It seems like more and more people are working on one man solo projects in the metal world. Tears Of Mankind was put together in 2002 by Phil Skrobelin in Surgut, Russia. His depressing guitar riffs and violent growls keep his work interesting as his music constantly changes style. His new album, entitled “Memoria,” constantly changes tempo speed, melodies, and instruments leaving you hooked and hitting the replay button for days.

After a short intro track, the first song to fade in is “In The Embrace Of Eternal Sunshine.” Dark strings guide you through the first minute and half when you finally run into a wall of distorted guitar riffs. The verse comes in with devilish growls that echo throughout the track. The refrain switches vocals with evil spoken word layered with whispering effects as your hit with more relentless chugging guitars. The last two minutes ends with a bang as lightning guitar riffs blast through with electrifying energy and excitement. They’re accompanies by quick double bass pedal drumming and will definitely have you rocking your head to the beat.

“Deadly desire” runs for over seven minutes long and starts out with depressive guitar riffs that are accompanied by soft piano keys that are played gently in the background. The drums are slow but powerful and will definitely have you bobbing your head. The verse drops about a minute and a half in with slammed distorted guitars and harsh growling vocals that will send you into another world. The guitars have an evil sound in their melody as each chord is held out while cymbals and snares destroy the background. The piano comes back in at the end of the verse adding more eerie sounds to the monstrous guitars. This gives off a strong beauty and the beast feel. This track fades perfectly into “Passion Backfathom Deeps” which carries many different varieties of genres into one song. The psychedelic guitars and strings in the beginning give an uplifting feel to the music. The vocals start out with harsh growls delivered in a slow manor behind long chugging guitar riffs full of distortion. Things start to pick up about four minutes in when you are greeted with eerie strings and fast chugging guitars. Booming double bass pedals come rumbling in underneath. The drum fills are insane. Make sure you pay close attention to the detail as you’ll find them very impressive. The vocals change up drastically as they become a lot more demonic. This is more of a raw black metal sound. Things slow down towards the end of the song as soothing string come back into the track while weeping guitars playing softly on top.

“So Long And So Recently” is another gorgeous track that opens with angelic piano riffs accompanied by mellow strings that surround them. Soon after enter deafening guitar riffs and explosive drum patterns. The piano continues to play keeping the song beautiful and depressive. The growling vocals contain heavy reverb and echo effects within the verses. The guitar play sad but catchy melodies in between the verse leaving progressive tones to the mix. “Pamyat” is one of the shorter song on the album and runs for a little under six minutes long. The vocals are very different as the beginning verse starts with clean singing vocals and slow guitar notes. More eerie strings start to fade in as the drums come in with slow tempos. This definitely reminds me of a My Dying Bride song. The depressive riffs and calm clean vocals are very similar. I guess you could say that this is the ballad of the album. An even shorter track is “Mayatnik.” This one runs for less than four minutes long and follows similar structure to “Pamyat.” More soft clean vocals take over the verse. Later enter wild distorted guitars with destructive chords. The drums rolls are full of detail and are absolutely mind blowing. For such a short song, it definitely makes you want to replay it again and again.

Overall Tears Of Mankind keep their sound consistent and creative. “Memoria” has a lot to offer as far as different types of moods and genres go. It adds some kick ass guitar riffs and drum fill while maintaining the depressive tones that they have been aiming for the entire time. The band has a lot of potential in their music and song structure and keep things interesting throughout the entire album. Definitely make sure you check them out.

8/10

Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/tearsofmankind

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