We Are But Memories

These musicians from Pale King sure are busy. Jonny Pettersson in particular has no less than 10 active projects going at the same time, yet still found time to write the promo email for We Are But Memories, which begins just, “Hello, my name is Jonny and I am the guitarist and singer of melodic death metal band Pale King.” Talk about selling yourself short, since he could at least have mentioned that 3 of these guys have played in Wombbath. Anyway, the quartet called Pale King do a reasonable service to their individual identity on this second album, indeed playing a more melodic and mid-paced form of death metal than they are usually involved with, even creating melancholic and wistful emotions with a kind of hazy lead guitar character.

The title track begins immediately as you press play on the pretty compact full-length, feeling a little like earlier Amon Amarth, though I’m impressed that Pale King mainly avoid direct comparison to other acts. As an international bunch, they seem willing to draw from different sources, gathering up some of Sweden’s boisterous heaviness, the Finns’ glimmering melodic emotion, and even features I’d say come from other environs, so that ‘Cursed’ for instance possesses characteristics of modern Stateside melodeath and very classic Nordic varieties. Moreover, the 8 songs are each attended with hooks and riffs that suck up the listener whole, though the production leaves a distant feel to the music, transforming it from something powerful and commanding to something almost epic in feel. Contrasting battling harsh vocals and vaguely folky lead melodies in ‘Drown’ touches the emotions that Amorphis once created, so you’ll find plenty of depth here.

Perhaps the one complaint that I can find with We Are But Memories relates to the pacing, not of the album but individual songs. Take 'A Spectral Display' as an example: the music surprisingly slumps into quiet after the first minute or so, choosing a slightly better option before the second chorus, but the very slow lead throughout that section just seems to drag the song back from the energy within, also an effect related to slightly buried drums. That's not to say that Pale King have failed to balance their songs as a group, nor really that some of them lack suitable dynamics, more that the general experience leaves me feeling a bit divorced from the action. Knowing that Pettersson himself mixed and mastered the album, that's got to be deliberate; however, I might have preferred lending more expression to the powerful riffs rather than only the heart-swelling scale of the choruses.