Memory Garden

Kumla, Sweden’s Memory Garden took their moniker from a revered track by the American doom heavyweights Trouble, issued in the same year the group formed, 1993. From the outset the quintet treated the lineage of their chosen style with reverence, weaving explicit nods to Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus and Trouble itself into their sound. The same year they cut their initial demos, after which vocalist Stefan Berglund, guitarists Rick Gustafsson and Anders Looström, bassist Ken Johansson and drummer Tom Björn quickly secured a contract with the regionally based Heathendoom imprint. That partnership yielded the Forever EP in 1995 and the surprisingly assured full-length Tides the following year. Berglund’s operatic delivery soon drew comparisons to Messiah Marcolin of Candlemass and Robert Lowe of Solitude Aeturnus, prompting some detractors to question the similarity, yet open-minded listeners responded instead to the band’s inventive songcraft, which increasingly incorporated power-metal flourishes across the next two albums, Verdict of Posterity (1999) and Mirage (2000). Both releases featured Simon Johansson on guitar after Rick Gustafsson’s departure. Despite the creative strides, sales failed to meet the expectations of the band’s new American label, Metal Blade, resulting in their release from the roster and a period of uncertainty. A solitary 7-inch, “Marion,” appeared on Heathendoom in 2004, after which four years passed before the group resurfaced with their fifth studio album, Carnage Carnival, issued by Vic Records. The record introduced bassist Johan Fredrikson and signaled a deliberate return to the ensemble’s foundational doom approach, albeit rendered with a contemporary production edge that promised renewed momentum.