Dutch label Construction Records are one of the finest independent labels to have emerged in recent times, and they have scored a real coup in signing up Haven Of Echoes, the collaboration between Frequency Drift’s Andreas Hack and Paul Sadler of Spires (Frequency Drift are sadly no longer extant as a recording act, but I believe some Spires activity is planned). Their first album, The Indifferent Stars released in 2022, was a smasher. Construction now releases on September 20th their sophomore album, Memento Vivere (Remember To Live) and I will at the top of this review apologise to those of my readers who might be suffering from the ongoing “cost of living crisis” or whose partners might be complaining about the excessive amount of music being purchased, because this is an essential purchase, a stunning album which oozes quality.

Hack & Sadler are joined again by erstwhile Frequency Drift electric harpist, Nerissa Schwarz, also contributing keys and effects, and Wolfgang Ostermann on drums.

Four tracks to consider on an album which deals with that characteristic of life which constantly confronts us, our own impermanence, our mortality, but telling us there is a positive in everything, including our demise and those around us, and how important it is to make the most of the short time we have available, a flash of light between two eternal realms of darkness (unless, of course, you believe in an afterlife, but that sense of urgency is, of course, one of the main arguments atheists have, that an eternity available to us would effectively be the death of creativity, because if all continues endlessly whatever, what point to doing anything differently or better?).

It is available for pre-order at https://frequencydrift.bandcamp.com/album/memento-vivere in digital, CD, and vinyl formats.

We open with a stunning epic, Non Sum, Non Curo (I am not, I don’t care), seventeen minutes of pure progressive joy, opening with some looping effects, before Sadler enters the vocal fray. He has a deeply expressive voice which puts across the concept that the darkness is nothing to fear, and the other eternal, that of human folly. His guitar work is very strong, with brooding notes alongside a piano, before the piece explodes into a riffing delight four minutes in, very heavy and very strong, leading into a brooding passage where the words dwell on genesis, justice, and philosophical questions of existence. Some of the noises provided by Schwarz are fascinating, the keyboard work is thoughtful mid-song, and it is worth noting that the aural quality is of the highest order, crystal clear. This track ranges from gorgeous pastoral moments to crunching riffs via dark psych, orchestral wall of sound with the march of time, mournful symphonic vibes, and Floydian beauty, holding your attention from the very first second to the last, an incredible achievement which I shall be playing in full on a radio show of mine very shortly and is a strong candidate for my “epic of the year” award on the website. The words that grief will fade away are very knowing, the fact that we move on, and the race progressing without constantly looking back a key to our continued survival and evolution.

This is followed by Ad Infinitum (To Infinity), the second single from the album, and which has a video embedded below for you to enjoy. The track was written, incidentally, by Schwarz. The vocals are beautiful, and the images on the video striking, the majesty of creation but the feeling I often get that we are merely drips or insects when measured against the bigger picture, and this melancholy permeates throughout the piece, but not, I might add, in a depressing manner, but a tapestry which allows one to reflect. Four minutes in, the harp presages a far darker sequence with haunting guitars at its heart above a deep and pulsing, menacing bass, the drum and percussion work subtle and holding all together, the images putting across so well the dichotomy of looking back but living to create the next generation, the race constantly striving, even unconsciously, to move onward, the cycle repeated throughout the ages.

The third track is It Walks Among Us, fourteen minutes, so the second epic track on the album, commencing with a somewhat apocalyptic set of notes and noises, the dark riffs very much influenced by the type of metal Black Sabbath pioneered over 50 years ago now, but infused with some rich keyboard textures. When Sadler begins the story of a life through broken memories, the impact is, in fact, far more Dio than Osbourne, death and chance not only walking among us, but feasting upon us, but with a far more uplifting theme than this sounds, life being stated as like a forest, the accumulation of countless generations having an impact upon us in the now, as we will have an impact upon future generations. The orchestration fills the room, and the atmosphere in the mid-section is a rock version of a Wagnerian opera to these ears before the mood changes yet again with a dark electronica vibe taking precedence before the subject is welcomed to purgatory, a classic rock infused passage becoming dominant, a huge rhythm section underpinning everything, some of the drum work incredibly intense as we move into the final couple of minutes, an expansive sound taking over your senses.

We close with the first single, Assimilation, which Sadler himself describes as the most complete example of what people can expect to find on the album, a microcosm of the whole. Eight minutes, and the video is embedded below. The beginning is gorgeous, as we move through varying civilisations which have come and gone – note, ours will, too, fade into history. The narcissism of modern times will fall victim to change as surely as those which have come before us. The new rising from the burning ashes of the old. It is here that the overriding optimism for the future is brought together, with some lovely melodic rock at the song’s core, with some very pretty keyboard work. The short guitar solo five minutes in is gorgeous, and surely any admirer of Sylvan, whose work I adore, will find so much to enjoy in this, especially the way in which this act provide for such dramatic musical impact with emotional vocals at the core before the final passage blows this away with the intense debunking of perception and moving backwards to our common past in a mirror image of the beginning, the need to understand what has gone before critical to shaping the future.

Now, it may well be that my musings in this review are not precisely as the writers intended, but that is fine, because this incredible album allows the listener a huge amount of space in which to not only appreciate fine music and musicianship, but to shape the meaning into the personal experience, this also being at the core of our humanity. It will remain on my playlist for a long time, and I suspect that if I were to write a review in a year’s time after many listens, my words, if not my core emotional response, would be different. That, of course, is the hallmark of quality music which evolves and shapes you.

This album is a supremely intelligent work. It is very highly recommended.