Meditations on death, time and mortality are not exactly unfamiliar territory in the prog universe, but surely few are as hauntingly beautiful as Memento Vivere. This is the second album from Haven of Echoes, following the 2022 release of their debut, The Indifferent Stars. It is the outcome of a collaboration between German multi-instrumentalist and composer Andreas Hack, powerhouse behind the richly atmospheric Frequency Drift band, and Paul Sadler, the outstanding vocalist and guitarist from Manchester based progressive metal outfit Spires. And it is a marriage made in heaven, combining Paul’s compelling virtuosity and extraordinary range of vocal tone with Andreas’ instinct for crafting soaring melodies, meltingly emotive harmonies and moody soundscapes. In bringing to the table his talent for creating emotional, cinematic prog, Andreas is ably supported by two longstanding colleagues from Frequency Drift. In the dextrous hands of Nerissa Schwartz, the distinctive tone of the electric harp adds a generous variety of flavours to the tonal palette, ranging from delicate and ethereal to eldritch and spine-chilling, while Wolfgang Ostermann’s drums add rhythmic impetus and complexity, effortlessly negotiating complex time signatures and challenging syncopations.
The richly varied musical style blends accessible melodic prog with elements of progressive metal and ambient electronica. Paul Sadler’s lyrics are evocative, poetic and deeply reflective, combining ideas from Ancient Greek philosophy with a more modern, humanist approach. The album title derives from the Latin motto ‘Memento mori, memento vivere’ (‘Remember you will die; remember to live’) and this relationship between life’s struggles and death’s inevitability is explored from different angles on each of the four tracks. Since none of the tracks weigh in at less than eight minutes, the listening experience is satisfyingly intense and immersive throughout each one, with light and shade provided by starkly dramatic contrasts of mood.
Non Sum, Non Curo takes inspiration from a cryptic inscription found on the gravestones of followers of the Greek philosopher Epicurus. The title’s message (‘I do not exist, I have no cares’) is obliquely comforting, implying that we should not fear death since while life is full of care, our sufferings will end once our time on earth is over. The track’s three-part structure charts this cycle of non-being, life and the return to nothingness. The music embodies many features found throughout the album including atmospheric, ambient instrumental passages serving as punctuation or scene-setters, dramatic use of spoken declamation alongside sung verses, and creative use of vocals to provide sumptuous layers of harmony and colour.
We are greeted by Nerissa’s e-harp, its spectral chimes eerily evoking the ghostly landscape of pre-existence. Expressive and richly layered vocal melodies circle and weave above restlessly shifting percussion patterns. Ominous bursts of sound from distorted guitars and electronica disrupt the serenity and Paul’s vocals assume a harsher edge as existence is described as ‘a state of war’. Finally the sorrowful refrain of silence fades away is echoed mournfully by harp and piano as the violence of birth wrenches us from the calm of non-existence.
The lyrics of Part Two describe the dreams and struggles of earthly life. The vocals, hesitant at first but full of wonder and yearning, float over a delicate instrumental accompaniment. After a languidly sinuous guitar solo, shadows gather as a martial drum beat and sustained chords on synthesised brass evoke the doomed heroism of man’s struggle to shoulder his burden and stand against the march of time.
Part 3 brings another dramatic change of mood, as wordless cries of lament, tidal waves of synths, wailing guitars and obsessive drumming patterns evoke the terror of mortality. But we are reminded that we can choose whether to view death as a foe or ‘As a long lost friend, reaching out from the void’ ending our fear and anguish. As we finally reach acceptance the opening music and lyrics are recalled. The cycle is complete and we return to the silence of nothingness.
Ad Infinitum, written by Nerissa Schwartz, describes the relentless cycle of creation, depicting life as both a blessing and a burden which we perpetuate through the generations as we bring our own children into the world. This repetitive process is mirrored by the musical structure, unified by a yearningly melancholy verse melody which weaves through the track like a silken thread. The theme inspires some gorgeous vocal landscapes and effects with Paul’s voice providing wordless vocalisations which add additional colour to the tonal palette. The image of ‘raindrops falling from a thawing sky’ inspires some particularly exquisite word-painting, with gentle droplets of sound delicately separating themselves from the smooth polyphony of the interwoven vocal layers. This is an achingly beautiful track full of emotional melodies and intricate textures.
The darkest of the four tracks, It Walks Among Us/Memento Obliviscere (‘remember to forget’) is a chilling reminder that Death and Time stalk our lives and will feast upon us all despite our desperate attempts at propitiation. Paul described his lyrics as ‘trying to convey the dark irony in the way we invite both time and death into our lives willingly, living stoically, almost comfortably alongside those two killers and in some cases learning to worship them’. The atmosphere is predominantly sinister and tense, dominated by low-pitched and menacing electronic eruptions from the keyboards and e-harp, dissonant harmonies and angular and disjointed vocal lines. At 8:14 a gloriously gothic vision of Purgatory is evoked by a remorseless battery of machine gun fire from bass and percussion, howling synths and grinding electronic pulses reverberating at the lowest end of the pitch spectrum:
So make yourself at home find your place amongst the damned
No time to greet you
So just keep turning, turning the screw’
Syncopated percussion patterns subvert the rhythmic stability, creating unease and disharmony. Pauls’s guitars wail in anguish, flailing against fate like prisoners trapped in a maze. There are moments of tenderness, including a delightful musical representation of Time as a forest, with mellow vocal lines interweaving above gently chiming guitars and wistful piano chords, but these are occasional shafts of light in the prevailing darkness.
Assimilation, the closing track, explores the relationship between reality and the way we perceive it. The phenomena we experience, such as a sunset reflected on water, can have more than one interpretation:
Reconsider your position
All and nothing is illusion’
Because of this, we can choose to become masters of our fate, turning a negative into a positive by assuming a more active role:
That is not what you want to hear, but that’s the truth of it
So the burden lies with us to sew our love into the soil’
The track welcomes us gently with layers of repeating patterns on pitched percussion, simultaneously subdividing the beat into groups of two and of three, creating a mesmerising sense of calm timelessness. The perfectly crafted and catchy melody of the chorus, with its plaintive harmonies, would feel quite at home on a Frequency Drift album such as ‘Letters To Maro’, while the verses (in 7/8 time) have more rhythmic freedom, following the patterns of natural speech. The atmosphere, as described by Paul, ‘floats between nostalgic melancholia and cautious optimism’. An instrumental interlude disrupts the serenity, with obsessively thudding bass and drums and an angular piano theme raising the tension, leading to a brief but poignantly beautiful guitar solo. The nostalgic mood is briefly restored in a ravishingly lovely passage featuring luminous cascades of sound from the e-harp, sighing strings, the low murmur of a bass clarinet and Paul’s vocals tenderly ‘yearning for lost summer days of youth’.
It might have been tempting to end the album here, leaving listeners comfortably immersed in this dreamy haze, but the conclusion is nothing if not a wake-up call. Against a nightmarish backdrop of distorted and dissonant electronica Paul’s spoken vocals dramatically build from menacing whispers to a full-on growl. We each have a choice to make – on one hand we can waste our lives by living in fear of death, ‘compelled to bear the weight of despair’, or we can take control and remember to live, finding beauty in the struggle. It’s just a matter of how we choose to see things – ‘perception is everything’. Or at least that’s this reviewer’s interpretation – other opinions are available!
This is an exquisitely crafted and deeply immersive album that demands and rewards your full attention. For me its most obvious and immediate attraction is the beauty and versatility of Paul Sadler’s voice. His extraordinary range of pitch, mood and tone colour give the illusion of having multiple different singers on board, bringing a sense of rich and complex polyphony to the vocal harmonies. While the vocals carry the main emotional weight, Andreas’s arrangements combine instruments and electronica in startlingly original ways to create vividly evocative tonal landscapes, providing context and depth for the lyrical message. The perfect symbiosis between lyrics and music makes this a powerful and ultimately uplifting listen which will enthral you with its thought-provoking questions, arresting sense of drama and juxtaposition of gothic darkness and luminous beauty.
TRACK LISTING
01. Non Sum, Non Curo (17:02)
02. Ad Infinitum (8:44)
03. It Walks Among Us (14:02)
04. Assimilation (8:14)
Total Time – 48:02
MUSICIANS
Paul Sadler – Vocals, Guitars
Nerissa Schwarz – Electric Harp, Keyboards
Wolfgang Ostermann – Drums
Andreas Hack – Synthesizers, Keyboards, Bass, Additional Guitars, Mandolin, Programming
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Construction Records
County of Origin: Germany | U.K.
Date of Release: 20th September 2024
LINKS
Haven Of Echoes – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | X | Instagram