Forget Me Not

“Forget me not” is a unique album that mixes death metal and violin but sounding way more obscure than the typical symphonic/orchestral metal band. Using death metal as skeleton, “Forget me not” has atmospheric times like gothic keyboards, rain sounds, and violin/string work, which has given an ambient of depression and aggression at the same time. DL has seen their style as “Dramatic Metal”, and it clearly sounds like their music expresses desperation; the Death Metal growls sound quite furious like anger and pain. That’s what this album is all about.

The first time that I listened to DL was in the album “Devoid” and I thought it sounded very rough; but after a while, the “Forget me not” album got into my ears and I clearly saw some “evolution” towards melodic death. Better explained, their guitar riffs are more orientated to melodic death in comparison to their last album, maybe the band doesn’t play standard melodic death metal (Gothenburg style) but perhaps they do reach that style, for their guitar riffs sound like a tough version of now days Dark Tranquillity. I’m already comparing Dark Lunacy and Dark Tranquillity, but there’s plenty of differences too, starting with the drumming that is brutal and clearly tougher than Dark Tranquillity’s last album.

“Lunarcyrcus” is the most brutal song of the album and it has an awesome start, a melancholic dark keyboard, followed by a blast of Death Metal that could open the gates of Hell itself. Then the verse has a great violin mixture with a distorted guitar riff, and I’m glad that most of the songs are like this, distorted guitar riffs mixed with an awesome violin and string work. In the other hand, the song “Serenity” has more atmospheric elements and I was even getting bored in the verse till Mike growled the Hell out of his lungs showing how tough and talented growler he is.

“Through the non-time” doesn’t sound as brutal as “Lunarcyrcus”, as a matter of fact, this song is the closer one to the traditional Gothenburg sound, and don’t get me wrong, the violin is still there and makes real presence in the chorus, but the guitar riffs are more melodic than other songs of the album.

My favorite songs are “Defaced” and “Forget me not”. “Defaced” starts with a violin riff which studio work made it sound like a very old recording, an average person would never expect the upcoming growls and guitars. The chorus is one of the most catchy ones of the album and goes along with a very beautiful violin/string work.

There are many good elements in this album, but the following really stand out: the death metal vocals, the awesome violin work, and most important: the blast of drumming, I got really impressed by the double bass sound and the ability of switching from metal drumming to vals rhythm. This is one of those incredible albums that fit into diverse metal tastes, probably because is not pure melody and not pure brutality, just an awesome masterpiece.