Burning Memories

Burning Memories doesn’t dig quite as deep as the mid-2000s sessions unearthed on Altar of Oblivion’s other recent EPs, having apparently been spawned from 2016 recordings. It isn’t too far from the doomy heavy metal style seen on 2019’s The Seven Spires, putting in a similar mix of molten guitars and warbling baritone wails. However, something about the way it’s presented here seems to sit better with me in comparison to that full-length.

It certainly helps that the first two songs kick ass as the title track immediately dishes out a satisfying upbeat charge that “Through the Night” follows up with a particularly hefty mid-tempo riff set. We’ve also got some neat dynamic contrasts at play as “Manic Masquerade” brings its own speedy hustle that is balanced out the spacey instrumental explorations of “Cosmic Chaos” and the closing comedown “Radiation.” It’s a very complete overall package despite a little under twenty-two minutes long and comes strongly recommended to those seeking traditional metal with a nice doom crunch.