THE WIND-UP

"The Wind-Up" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish metal act Memfis. The album was independently released in September 2006. Memfis formed in 2003 and released two demos and a 2006 eponymously titled EP before recording and releasing "The Wind-Up".

Stylistically the material on "The Wind-Up" is a quite interesting combination of progressive post-hardcore (Burst, early-The Ocean Collective...etc.), progressive metal, and melodic/progressive death metal (Opeth is an influence here). Lead vocalist/guitarist Mattias Engström has a raw voice and delivers both brutal screaming hardcore influenced vocals and semi-growling (the are a few clean vocal parts on the album delivered by guitarist Johan Boqvist). The music is generally very dynamic and changes from beautiful melodic parts to more brutal agressive parts in varied tempi. Epic melodies, guitar harmonies, and mellow sections are contrasted by aggressive and brutal parts. It´s all delivered by a skilled band, who also understand the dynamics of writing a memorable and intriguing song.

"The Wind-Up" is well produced, featuring a powerful, clear, and detailed sound production, which features just the right amount of organit grit to not sound sterile and polished. Upon conclusion "The Wind-Up" is a good quality debut album from Memfis, and they deserve more attention than they got with this release. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).