Old school death metallers Memorian, founded in January 2016 by Karl Willetts (Bolt Thrower) and Frank Healy (Benediction), are set to unleash their debut album, For The Fallen, on March 24th. Today, the band have released a lyric video for the album track, “Surrounded (By Death)”, which is available for streaming below.

Vocalist Karl Willetts states: "The lyrics to this song work on many levels. initially it relates to the literal interpretation of death all around on the battlefield.

"The song was written when there was a lot of high profile celebrity deaths e.g. Lemmy Kilmister 28/12/2016, David Bowie 10/01/2017,  this was all over the media at the time when i was writing the lyrics to the song and had a major influence in the process. It seems that we all live in a world where we are all surrounded by death.

"Death itself is a taboo subject that we never really think about or discuss until it actually happens to someone we know and love, in this respect the song is a reference to Martin "Kiddie" Kearns and also to Frank's dad who died not long after Martin.

"It is in some way a tribute their lives along with all the other people we have known and respected that have now passed on."

For The Fallen will contain eight tracks, including “War Rages On”, “Resistance” (both featured on The Hellfire Demos I) and “Surrounded (By Death)” (featured on The Hellfire Demos II).

For The Fallen is available for pre-order in various formats at this location. Pre-order the album digitally and receive “Reduced To Zero” instantly.

The album's artwork was created by Dan Seagrave.

Dan stated on the cover artwork: "Starting from the bands thoughts on visualising a kind of funeral procession with a theme of combat, war and in conjunction with the title For The Fallen. As with all my works, I then attempt to make the information evolve in my minds eye, and allow imagination to take over those elements. But retaining the core concept. The painting thus depicts.

"A funeral procession moving through a long war torn cityscape. Twisted shards of towers & buildings. A cathedral facade stands defiantly, yet riddled with destruction and decay. At closer inspection the structures all seem to be infected with an element of natural decomposition, as if organically inclined to fade with the demise of the season.The season itself lost in a timeless void.

"The figures appear as remnants of once soldiers, now strange in their gathered mass. Drawn forwards by the drifting momentum of the procession. Unaware of their emaciated state they follow the commander. The Commander's elongated appearance is tattered and almost creature like, with the combat style elements and gas mask falsely presenting as a costume.

"The procession appears almost ghost like, ancient and serene, slowly moving through this eerie place as if forever.

"Far in the background there might still be a war happening, but perhaps in another time. As we view a sub level of reality. Lost in the present. Captured in light, where the war had passed through and we are left in a ghost biology. Where chemicals and history meet to create an inescapable surrealism."

For The Fallen tracklisting:

“Memoriam”
“War Rages On”
“Reduced To Zero”
“Corrupted System”
“Flatline”
“Surrounded (By Death)”
“Resistance”
“Last Words”

Trailer #1:

Trailer #2:

Trailer #3:

“Reduced To Zero”:

Memoriam was primarily developed to fill the void that was left following the tragic death of Martin ‘Kiddie’ Kearns, the drummer from Bolt Thrower, back in September 2015. Bolt Thrower subsequently placed all activity on hold for the foreseeable future which gave Karl Willetts an opportunity to develop a new project with friends that had expressed interest in forming a band for some time. Memoriam are an old school death metal band, maintaining the standards set by their previous bands, focusing on the themes of death, loss and war. Initially the band members got together to play covers of songs that had influenced them throughout their careers within the Death Metal scene, however it soon became apparent that the new songs that they created were of a superior standard.

Memoriam lineup:

Karl Willetts - Bolt Thrower (vocals)
Frank Healy - Benediction, Sacrilege (bass)
Andy Whale - ex-Bolt Thrower (drums)
Scott Fairfax - ex-Life Denied, Benediction (live) (guitars)

(Photos - Timm Sonnenschein / timmsonnenschein.com)