MEMORIAM For the Fallen LP BLACK

Surrounded by death…

When BOLT THROWER drummer Martin “Kiddie” Kearns passed in his sleep on September 14th, 2015, the members of Britain’s longest standing death metal band were absolutely bereft. Three weeks after, bassist Frank Healy, of UK death metal legends BENEDICTION, lost his father. All that sorrow left a massive hole in the hearts and minds of the Midlanders. The untimely demise of Kearns forced BOLT THROWER to go on an indefinite hiatus, while Healy was seven years removed from BENEDICTION’s last full-length, »Killing Music«. Key members of both bands needed an out. A way to cope with the emotional hardship. So, vocalist Karl Willetts and Healy teamed up with ex-BOLT THROWER drummer Andy Whale and riff-master Scott Fairfax to form MEMORIAM.

“We needed to move on,” Healy reflects. “To find closure and peace of mind. To express the sadness and get it out in the open. The formation of MEMORIAM and the music we created was the vehicle for me. To get all that emotion laid down is the perfect way to make a permanent tribute to those we loved and lost. It is a happy ending for me as MEMORIAM gave me the outlet to grieve. [To] make something positive from all the sadness.”

“MEMORIAM was born from darkness,” continues Willetts. “For me, it was a choice of sinking deep into a pit of misery and despair, waiting for something to happen. [I had that choice] or to get on with life and try and create something positive from the experience. From the darkness comes light, from the sadness comes joy, from the despair comes hope. This is MEMORIAM.”