Distorted
Memorial

Release Date: 2006 | Tracklist

The ever expanding power of metal never ceases to amaze me. At one point, metal completely dominated America and the United Kingdom starting in the 1970‘s to 1990‘s before fading out somewhat. But soon enough, metal began to pick up speed and rapidly grow in popularity throughout Europe. It would only be a matter of time before heavy metal would turn into a multi cultural fest ranging from Scandinavia all the way to the middle east. The back stories to America and Europe should be clear by now so I’ll get to the point. The middle eastern scene began in 19991 with their first heavy metal band Orphaned Land bringing a unique twist to an already thought to be extinct genre. Their blend of traditional Jewish and Arabic folk into the harsh realms of metal caught on quickly. Black metal emissaries, Melechesh had formed two years later with other prominent acts such as Bilocate, Khalas, Distorted, and Salem forming in short time. The metal scene began to pick up when Salem became a target of notorious extremist and sole creator of Burzum, Varg Vikerness, who sent the band a bomb through the mail.

Distorted is a progressive metal band hailing from Bat-Yam. Forming in 1996, they released a couple demos and two full length albums as of 2008. Like their predecessors, Orphaned Land, Distorted incorporate Oriental folk melodies into extreme, progressive tinged metal but although they share similar traits, both bands stand out from each other, Distorted taking influence primarily from Opeth, Dark Tranquillity and doom metal. I first heard about his band a couple years back after viewing their single, “Children Of The Fall” on youtube. I was impressed because now a days I’m used to the idea of female fronted metal bands as more of a novelty than anything else. Distorted had shown me that the backing musicianship was just as exquisite as the vocalist, Miri. Plenty of these bands rely on their vocalist to sell out theatres and not much else, resulting in safe, predictable, and stale songwriting that quickly put these groups in the glove box. The first album I heard from this group was their most recent output, “Voices From Within, and at first I was quite impressed with what I’ve heard but after hearing their debut, “Memorial” my mind completely shifted to their debut album. One problem with Voices was that it lacked in catchy hooks and didn’t quite sound as focused as Memorial. Therefore suffering greatly in the lyrical and song writing departments. The guitar work and Miri’s distinct voice were still brilliant but shown to an even greater extent on their debut.

After hearing their last album with mixed feelings, I was quickly anticipating to hear their debut and right off the bat, the opener “ “In Your Light” hit me hard. The song opens with a couple minutes of echoing male and female choir vocals before an ominous riff sets a heavy rhythm for the track. The progressive influence was just as present as ever in the guitar riffs, if not sounding heavier and catchier than anything from Voices From Within. But the thing that immediately drew me in was the drawing power of the female vocalist, Miri. Many bands in the gothic metal genre fail to stand out and instead turn out to be a kid sister of Liv Kristine, Tarja Turunen, or Simone Simmons. Not Miri however, she boasts a very distinct quality to her voice, filled with power and emotion all while wrapped up in Middle Eastern flavor. She might have toned it down in ‘Voices From Within’ but her vocal performance here is one of the strongest I’ve ever heard in metal overall. The guitar work on Memorial is splendid thanks to Distorted featuring a solid rhythm section. Ben and Raffael are a great duo, lining out riffs that are as heavy as they are catchy, one right after the other. They’ve toned down the acoustic guitar quite a bit but more than make up for it with sublime Oriental melodies and raging solos that pulsate through out the aggressive overtones. The beauty and the beast style is still present with Raffael layering his harsh growling with Miri’s great singing voice. Some might find that the growling tries to do too much but for the most part sound great and make the music extremely heavy at some points. Drumming is tight as well, especially on “Flesh And Blood” which features some really cool tribal beats intertwining with double bass. Bass has played a great role on their newest album and fails to disappoint on Memorial either. Guy does a great job following the guitar with catchy bass lines, most notably on the single “Children Of Fail” and “Is It The Wind“.

Production is pretty solid for the album with a great emphasis shown to the vocals and guitars as well as the bass so I’m happy. All in all, Distorted managed to create an excellent metal album with solid instrumentation and vocal work with their debut. I don’t have many complaints with the album as Memorial boast’s plenty of solid tracks and displays much less of the nicks and nacks that Voices From Within did. It’s a shame that they couldn’t follow up with another stellar master piece. On Memorial, Distorted have created what the band is capable of and after 12 years of experience I hope the band remember not to rush things in the future. Fans of progressive metal, great female vocals, or those looking to hear something new should definitely give this a trial run on your computer, blasting in front of your girlfriend, or in your car.

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3.9 excellent

Rank: #0 for 2006