DIVISION BY ZERO

"Division by Zero" is the debut full-length studio album by Italian, Tempio Pausania, Sardinia based progressive metal act Memento Waltz. The album is a self-released affair released in September 2013. Even though "Division by Zero" is the band´s debut album, they are actually quite a seasoned act, having existed since 1994. They released both demos and a couple of EPs before this release. The latest being the "Antithesis of Time (2010)" EP, which is a release that showed great promise.

Stylistically Memento Waltz play technical/progressive metal in the vein of acts like Spiral Architect, Twisted Into Form, Zero Hour, Sieges Even, Watchtower and when they are most jazzy Cynic. They play music on a very high technical level with fusion influenced drumming, loads of tempo and time signature changes, blistering jazz/fusion tinged solo work and a versatile vocalist who can sing high notes but also more raw type vocals. At times the vocals actually give off a US power metal vibe even though the vocal melodies are not anthemic in style. The tracks are generally complex in structure and there is a lot of focus on technical playing, but not solely as there are also quite a few atmospheric parts on the album. There´s even an ambient part featured in "Mechdreamer" and a track like "A New Beginning" is also quite atmospheric.

"Division by Zero" is well produced and overall Memento Waltz have definitely taken the right step forward with their music. The complexity of the tracks ensure longivity and even though the vocal melodies might not be instantly memorable, repeated listens reveal a lot of intriguing details in that department too. I could mention several highlights like the powerful and varied opening track "Omicron" or the jazzy "Europa (Jupiter II)", but I think "Division by Zero" deserves to be listened to as a whole. Sometimes the band go a bit overboard with their progressive ideas instead of focusing on catchiness and flow (like the slap bass part in "Europa (Jupiter II)") but that´s a minor issue and probably not a problem to most progressive metal listeners. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Excellent new progressive metal band from Italy named Memento Waltz with their debut Division by zero released in 2013. Well, what was clear from the beggining for me,, was that the musicians can handle very easely the instruments giving to the listner a wall of sounds full of intresting passages. Clearly influenced and similar with Fates Warning, Spiral Architect, Linear Sphere, Watchtower - these italians proved right from the beggining that they mean bussines in this field. Lots of tempo changes, complicated arrangements, the bass works is impressive most of the time, competent drumer, some good towards great guitar erobics and a powerful vocalist makes memento Waltz a band to watch in the future. All pieces stands as good no really weak moment here, the only complain I can find is the vocalist, who is far from being bad, but is nothing special for me and because of that he drags little bit the overall enjoyment of the album. Otherwise technicaly and musicaly speaking Memento Waltz is awesome at best. 3.5 stars is best I can give, 3 stars but rounded up for the great musicinship. Nice art work and all, CD available at cdbaby.