Description

Dennis Cornelius is a prolific figure of the US doom metal scene. Once a member of the classic Revelation and then leader in the Oversoul and Dwell Within projects, he is widely known for being an integral part in the Place of Skulls albums, where he joined forces with Victor Griffin, a colossal name of the doom metal genre. However, he is an unrestful spirit and Memory Driven is his new band that follows the short-lived Dwell Within project. "Relative Obscurity" is released through the Swedish I Hate Records and features eleven tracks of groovy doom metal/rock. While Cornerlius was first known as a bass player, he has given these duties to David Newcomb and now he handles the guitars and the vocals. Why this note? Simply because the music of Memory Driven owes a lot to the bass sound of Newcomb. This is the driving force throughout the album, without disregarding the rest of the musicians. The music, like said before, is groovy doom metal with a lot of rock and - if allowed – with some post-grunge rock elements. It is not so far from Oversoul or Place of Skulls, but with addition of other influences, like "Downfall" era Solitude Aeturnus or classic doom metal acts, like Solstice (only in some parts of the lead guitars themes), the amalgamation results in a fine line of songs. You can’t pay attention to this album, especially with a scorcher song like "Nonprofundi". It is one of these cases that the first track shows exactly what is going to follow. Not that all the tracks are noteworthy, like this one, but in general the songwriting is high-leveled and the performances are very good. Songs like "Melt Into", "Heavens Vast" and "Forever Lasting Sadness" have been put in nodal points of the album and sustain the intensity and the interest. The flow of the album is seamless, as the four piece band has flowered the tracklist with a lot of ambient kind of like passages. I am not a specialist, but "Twin Peaks" soundtrack was brought to my mind. Anyway, I guess that there is plenty room for improvement in several sections, with the most grave being the production and the least important being the cover, but in the end we have a very interesting debut. The bet for Mr. Cornelius is to find a place he can call home and uninterrupted he can produce some very nice doom metal music.

Origin and Status

United States of America (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) - Active

Current Members

Dennis Cornelius - Guitar, vocals (A Fate far Worse, Cor (US), Darkoffigus, Doomstone (US),

Dwell Within, Morticious, Oversoul (US), Place of Skulls, Revelation (US))

Chris Greenway - Guitar (Cor (US), Dwell Within, Oversoul (US))

David Newcomb - Bass, synths

Tim Mansfield - Drums

Discography    

Relative Obscurity   2009   ihate records

Contacts and Links

http://www.myspace.com/memorydrivendoom