Binary Code announces the May 15th release of its third full-length album: Memento Mori.
Memento Mori is an immersive experience that absolutely crushes. With cinematic atmosphere, metallic weight, and heart-wrenching sadness, Binary Code have created an album that commands attention from the first note to the last. Inspired entirely by the tragic death of Binary Code founder/guitarist Jesse Zuretti’s girlfriend, Memento Mori is the full realization of this band’s potential – channeling the members’ formidable talents into music that pulls the listener through intense mourning, toward catharsis.
Zuretti states: “The album was written after my girlfriend at the time committed suicide. I found her hours after seeing her earlier that day. The album literally saved my life. I remember begging life for a sign or some guidance, and I woke up the next day and started writing music.”
All sales of Memento Mori will be donated to suicide prevention.
Stream Binary Code’s devastating cover of Mazzy Star’s classic, “Fade Into You,” from Memento Mori, here:
A standout of the New York/New Jersey metal scene in the early ’10s, Binary Code established a rep for startling technicality and heavy groove. Over time the band’s more progressive leanings moved to the forefront. This shift was documented on 2016’s Moonsblood, which marked the debut of ace vocalist Oded Weinstock. Nasty tech-metal commingled with glistening post-metal, as Weinstock’s growls and soaring clean vocals united the two extremes.
With Memento Mori, the sound has evolved into something even grander and more timeless: a massive, majestic version of heavy rock. Binary Code have graduated to a level where everything is done in service of the songs themselves. Every rhythmic and melodic detail is in place, working in unison to convey the emotional weight of the story.
“I think musical influences are hard to pinpoint because I wrote the music without influence beyond the experience,” says Zuretti. “I think we’ve arrived at a place between Katatonia, Paradise Lost, Gojira, Devin Townsend, and composers like Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman. But I didn’t write with other people’s music in mind. This was all from the heart.”
Zuretti’s mention of composers comes as no surprise – by day, he is a composer of music for Marvel Entertainment.
Memento Mori was recorded by Aaron Smith (7 Horns 7 Eyes), with drum tracking done at Backroom Studios in Rockaway NJ, and guitars and bass tracked at Zuretti’s home studio. Vocals were tracked by John Douglass (The Contortionist, Death Angel). The band then worked with Smith at his studio in Seattle compose and record the orchestral synth arrangements.
“Those I Sought to Spare” features a guitar solo by Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy, Nevermore).
The album was mastered by Alan Douches (Mastodon, Converge).
The album artwork was created by Eliran Kantor (Soulfly, Testament).
Tracklist:
1) Filaments Dissolve
2) Into the Maw
3) The Absolute Nothing
4) Unborn
5) Those I Sought to Spare (feat. Jeff Loomis)
6) Even Death My Die
7) Embers
8) Away with Oneself
9) Fade Into You (Mazzy Star cover)
10) Notion of Gravity
11) Let Them In Your World
Lineup:
Oded Weinstock – vocals
Jesse Zuretti – guitar
PJ Spilletti – guitar
Connor Appleton – bass
Austin Blau – drums
Discography:
Suspension of Disbelief (2009, MetalSucks)
Priest EP (2010, MetalSucks)
Moonsblood (2016, self-released)
Memento Mori (2020, self-released)
Press release courtesy of The Chain
