MEMORIAM
As of 2016, all hope for new BT merch is no more. Karl Willetts and Andy Whale (great to see you behind the kit again!) have joined forces with Frank Healy and Scott Fairfax and started a band that not only sounds not too far removed from what BT was all about but also (at least for now) offers renditions of a few BT standards in their live shows, which is nice. Certainly a band to keep on your radar, although it's probably too early to judge whether or not they will be able to live up to their massive heritage...
But what about their merchandise? Will they continue the proud BT tradition of selling shirts only at concerts, at extremely low prices, thus creating a myth and emotional value far beyond that of any other band known to me? Sadly, they seem to have decided otherwise. Perhaps it's too much of a hassle, perhaps they wanted to give people access to merch who otherwise would not have had the opportunity (consider, for example, the chances of a Pakistani metalhead acquiring a long-coveted "Spearhead"-shirt), perhaps their label (Nuclear Blast, in my eyes the McDonald's of metal labels) made them an offer that they couldn't resist... who knows. What is cool though is that apparently the band itself takes care of merch orders in their webshop http://memoriam.bigcartel.com/products and ships the shirts... All in all, I am probably not going to devote myself fully to collecting Memoriam merch, but will include the stuff that comes my way.
The Hellfire Demo 7', Memoriam's first effort, its clear outside sleeve lovingly decorated by the band.
How cool - a Memoriam pick. Thanks, Scott!
And the setlist of my first ever Memoriam gig, at the Party.San 2016 festival. I love the Big Bollocks Noise. Thanks again, Scott.
The Hellfire Demos Part II, white vinyl edition. The fun thing about this 7' is that Nuclear Blast misprinted the title "Drone Strike" (see setlist above) as "Drown Strike" - not only on the back, but on the vinyl label as well. Oh my fellow Germans...
The first album - For the Fallen. Purple vinyl, great cover art by none other than Dan Seagrave. Music's no bad, either. Took a little while to get used to, but it's a very decent first effort. Great sound, great riffs, great vocals, some BT trademarks, some Benediction (dark) seasoning, lots of Memoriam-idiosyncratic ingredients (again: thanks, Scott?) - it IS a new band. And a great one too. Glad to have witnessed its birthing stage, this strapping young lad will grow up to become a monster.
My first Memoriam shirt, haven't really gotten round to ordering their direct merch from the UK yet, but I will soon. This one looks good, but the quality is terrible; see-through-thin cotton, weighs no more than a feather (well, two or three feathers) and will no doubt shrink to fit in the wash. Fit my daughter's baby doll, that is. Oh well, there's worse things that one could wear. Yet for 18 Euros, you could expect a little more from a label like Nuclear Blast.