Memories Of A Lost Soul
Distorted Perceptionz

What more could you wish for from an album? The fact that the tracks get into your blood as soon as you hear them? The impeccable and imaginative songwriting? The skill of the musicians? Maybe it depends on the genre, or maybe not, and usually these conditions all hold valid importance, even though (obviously) they are not absolute rules. This introduction is to tell you that the album in question brings together everything you could wish for from death metal: brutality, technique, masterful songwriting, and why not, also plenty of melody and good taste.

MOALS released this "Distorted Perceptionz" in 2003, after "The Clockwork" (of which I regret having done too sparse a review), after the two demos (already praised everywhere), they made a great comeback with this album, proposing a concept that's anything but trivial where music and lyrics intertwine, forming a fabric of sounds as disturbing and violent as necessary, leading this band in a new direction slightly distant from their beginnings. Every demo and every album by MOALS has represented their evolution, but particularly the path taken with this one has hit the target like never before. Thirteen pieces spread over more than an hour of music where spirals of rhythmic violence follow clean guitar arpeggios, distorted riffs, growls, and classical interludes, an album classified by specialized press as symphonic death/black, yet personally, I don't see much black (except for a few distant glimpses here and there). This is pure death in the best Swedish tradition of the past decade, to which it obviously pays due tribute, but without ever falling into what’s already heard or recycling ideas. Each song is a journey, a "distorted perception of life" recounted by Buzz's voice, more extreme than ever before, and the other band members don't miss a beat, from the guitars, one of which is always Buzz and the other Peppe, to the rhythm section, as always precise and impeccable, making the tracks very robust, great credit to Max and bassist Marco.

I find every single song truly excellent, and the instrumental pieces are beautiful too, true glimpses of class and (apparent) tranquility amidst so much fury: the arpeggios of "Next Terminal Reality" with that slight hint of percussion and distorted guitars in the background (reminiscent in style of "Voice of the Soul" by Death), and the beautiful piano interlude ("The Incubation Starts") before arriving at "The Soul's Incubator". You will start headbanging immediately, from the first song, without frills, and everything that follows will be, as I said above, powerful, rhythmic, melodic, disturbing... magnificent.

Recommended solely and exclusively to metalheads, anyone approaching this genre for the first time will never digest an album of this caliber. Go on the website and download it (it's all available!) you won't regret it. Oh, I forgot, but I think it was obvious (from the names), Memories Of A Lost Soul is one of the gems of the Italian underground, specifically from Reggio Calabria. A separate discussion should be made on this last point, both a blessing and a curse for our nation: we are proud to have bands of such caliber, but we are aware that in another place by now they would have already achieved the success they deserve...