Review: Haven of Echoes – Memento Vivere

Style: progressive rock, progressive pop, art rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: new Leprous, Agent Fresco, Porcupine Tree
Country: international
Release date: 20 September 2024

My fellow reviewer, Christopher, reviewed Haven of Echoes’ debut The Indifferent Stars a couple years ago, and despite his reasonable 7.5/10, I actually enjoyed the album more than he did, so in a rare move in the reviewing game—the transferring of the reviewing torch—here I am after to tackle Memento Vivere, the international group’s sophomore album. At only four tracks ranging from eight to fourteen minutes, the progressive art rockers have upped their ambition to deal with themes of impermanence and, as the title states, remembering to live. Do Haven of Echoes pluck my heartstrings with their progressive art rock twice in a row?

Still predominantly the same aesthetic, Haven of Echoes use electric harp, synths, and treble-y vocals to create pensive pieces. Occasionally rawer instrumentation slips through the slick modern production and electric, modern Leprous-y pop—the solo at 9:45 in “Non Sum, Non Curo” is a clear highlight as well as the drumming patterns at 6:00 into “It Walks Among Us”—but otherwise Memento Vivere is content to build off of simple ideas into more complex layerings, preferring emotional complexity to flashy instrumentals. To capture a feeling of impermanence, Haven of Echoes balance yearning nostalgia with a tinge of hope throughout the meandering, weighty epics. With their slow-burning progressions, the tracks on Memento Vivere typically all flip-flop between aching, slow atmospheric sections through crescendos to more passionate, fiery climaxes (and choruses in the shorter tracks).

The atmospheric sections are pleasant and induce a sensation of timeless weightlessness through their synths and harp, Haven of Echoes are masters of eliciting complicated emotions from the listener. However, the vast majority of the album is spent aimlessly meandering through pretty progressions, and the sensation can only persist for so long. By halfway through the eighteen minute opener “Non Sum, Non Curo,” I’m, regrettably, already bored of the etherealities of Haven of Echoes. The issue is compounded by vocalist Paul Sadler: while his lower tone is buttery and rich, he spends more time in his upper register which is whiney, his delivery lacking in range. Although Sadler is clearly talented, he falls on the falsetto delivery as a crutch much like Einar Solberg (Leprous), but unlike Einar, he doesn’t have the vocal agility to rely upon it for so long. Lead single “Assimilation” and “Ad Infinitum” in particular rely on this schtick for a seemingly endless period of time. The emotional core of Memento Vivere at large evaporates before the lengthy atmospheres progress, leaving the album seemingly aimless at points. 

At the climaxes, Sadler tries his hardest to add some grit to his vocal performance, and the instruments become much more engaging, actually adding in some rock elements, but it’s too little too late—the droning, monotonous parts have already zapped out my engagement with the tracks beyond reconciliation. The sound is pretty for snippets, and the climaxes in isolation are heartfelt moments with sincerity in their execution, yet Haven of Echoes need significantly more focus in their songwriting like on the debut with its more restrained song lengths to have these sections land with the gravity they should garner. 

I’m left bitterly disappointed by Memento Vivere, the whole thing a frustrating, rudderless experience. It’s tepid despite its ambition, bland despite its capacity for emotion, straight up boring despite the pedigree. There are glimmers of what made the debut so brilliant in its understatedness, but Memento Vivere is a letdown. I finally see the real reason Chris deferred this to me—it wasn’t a kindness.

Recommended tracks: It Walks Among Us
You may also like: Meer, Frequency Drift, Playgrounded, Mother of Millions, Marjana Semkina
Final verdict: 5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Frequency Drift – Bandcamp

Haven of Echoes is:
Paul Sadler: all vocals, guitars
Nerissa Schwarz: electric harp, keys
Wolfgang Ostermann: drums
Andreas Hack: all other instruments