Flyleaf - Memento Mori [Expanded Edition] [2 Discs] - CD

Deluxe two CD edition includes a bonus disc containing four bonus tracks. 2009 release, the highly anticipated follow up to their platinum selling, self-titled debut album. Flyleaf bleed, grow, love and live on Memento Mori, a collection of poignant, passionate and pensive Hard Rock songs. From the kinetic first single, 'Again,' to the touching album closer, 'Arise,' guitarists Sameer Bhattacharya and Jared Hartman trade orchestral riffs that see-saw from soaring to searing. Drummer James Culpepper smoothly propels every groove forward, while Pat Seals' bass anchors unforgettable hooks. Gliding across this majestic melodic backdrop, Lacey's vocals build into beauty from pain. Her voice reaches transcendent heights on songs like 'Set Apart This Dream' and 'Missing.'

Texas-based Christian rock/emo-metal quintet Flyleaf's sophomore release jettisons the raw, punk-infused angst of their platinum-selling debut, replacing it with a thick, punchy theatricality that is as progressive as it is radio-ready. Fueled by the electrifying voice of Lacey Mosley, who can build a city with a single soaring note and then tear it down with a lone caterwaul, Memento Mori (musically, at least) owes more to the tech-heavy, similarly faith-based King's X than it does the moody atmospherics of Evanescence, but there's enough angst and obsession here to draw fans of the latter. At 14 songs, most of which bust out of the gate with guns blazing, it can be hard to differentiate, especially when the group sticks to the formula of heavy riff/verse/heavy riff/chorus, but between the moody single "Again" and the alternately laid-back and elegiac closer "Arise," the five members of Flyleaf have come awfully close to finding and defining their voice. (An expanded edition was released with an extra disc featuring the bonus tracks "Break Your Knees," "Enemy," "Have We Lost," and "Who Am I.") ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi

Performer	Flyleaf
Music genre	Heavy Metal
Music subgenre	CD - HEAVY METAL
Music release type	Release
Media format	CD
Edition	Standard
Number of discs	2
Series title	Flyleaf - Memento Mori [CD]
Track listing	Beautiful Bride,Again,Chasm,Missing,This Close,The Kind,In the Dark,Set Apart This Dream,Swept Away,Tiny Heart,Melting (Interlude),Treasure,Circle,Arise,Break Your Knees,Enemy,Have We Lost,Who Am I
Record label	A&M / Octone
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N