Vas Hermeticum, by Amplified Memory

Vas Hermeticum

by Amplified Memory

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Physical album, regular jewelcase with a 16 pages booklet.

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Gildan Heavy T shirts in the "crystalline" design of our second album "Vas Hermeticum". Also available as girlies (Gildan Softstyle Ladies T-Shirt). Digital print. T-shirt design by Moonroot (www.moonrootart.com).

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B&C – 50/50 Hooded Full Zip Sweat Unisex in the design of our second album "Vas Hermeticum". Screen print.

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Buy our new album "Vas Hermeticum" together with the "crystalline" design T-shirt (also girlies available!) and save money!

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Buy our new album "Vas Hermeticum" together with the "black ink" design T-shirt and save money!

Includes unlimited streaming of Vas Hermeticum via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Corridor 02:45	info	buy track
2.	Maze of Gyri 03:08	lyrics	buy track
Standing on a corridor’s floor Diffuse paintings on the wall Hasten forward Get out of this realm so wayward A door appears So white and clear One scenario’s deliquescing And a new one blooms right away Dream creation Multiform, imperious Show me thy arcanum Winding through deformity Liquefying my skin Unveil thyself Allow me to catch myself Productive overflow Of fractal sense Circular circuses Anchored in self-applause Dream creation Multiform, imperious Show me thy arcanum Relation to reality Seems so rigged in rust So shall I be mindful of dreams Or athetize them by logic? But holding the dream As divorced from reality Grounded on random dynamics Ignores the inherent Structure of life Cheering and praising chaos Dream creation Multiform, imperious Show me thy Arcanum
3.	A Walk on the Crystalline Path 08:32	lyrics	buy track
Carefully and reluctantly I walk on a path of glass Through my existence Towards the vague Towards all the buried within myself Below my way run silent rivers Of long withered memories Around me lies the universe Willing to absorb me When I take a look to the waysides I lay my eyes on all my dreams They are buildings Rusty, shaking, decayed And as I pass these constructions They collapse Crash into the ground And crumble into dust Without any sound But wailing in my head A sharp, blazing flash Speeds through all of my veins With each falling dream I’m lost inside myself Meaningful creations Architecture of the soul Manifestation of all wishes Traumas, fears and the unknown The gleam of plain facades A deceiver veiling truth The cracked, yet solid walls Used to protect my deep withdrawal I feel like running Driven by warming fire But every taken step makes The ground below grow colder And glass turns to ice Until I spot the end Of my crystalline path Prepared to enter The way into myself I rush towards the edge At a smart pace Until the sight Of what I find there Rips my cells And petrifies my neural For at the edge Of this path of glass With the silent rivers below There’s you wearing my face Gazing into space A black fabric Made of all your fears Is softly resting in my hands But as I reach them out for you You turn away And let yourself fall And as you dive into the silent rivers Countless cracks pervade the glass The whole path shatters Into micro-fragments Gathering in a Sparkling cloud around me It bears me away from this place And lifts me up Into new born spheres The sharp bits, they begin To whirl around me When all fright and grief Finally falls apart Millions of splinters Are puncturing my body Every crystal heals a wound I watch all the dull colors Run down in torrents Till the raging sharps Finish the piercing The vitreous cloud moves on And carries me back Through time and space Back to my dreams I glide down to the buildings Rebuilt in vast terrain About to re-experience Their ruination And they collapse Crash into the ground And crumble into dust Without any sound But wailing in my head A sharp, blazing flash Speeds through all of my veins With each falling dream I’m lost inside myself Meaningful creations Architecture of the soul Manifestation of all wishes Traumas, fears and the unknown The gleam of plain facades A deceiver veiling truth The cracked, yet solid walls Used to protect my deep withdrawal And after all The structures have collapsed There is only one building left It is that dream The one you’ve always loved So I walk inside and close the door
4.	Soporific 06:13	lyrics	buy track
Ever since they merged With the universe I’ve been carrying The void of night in me But I found a way To see them again An alternate reality Inside my head Sedate the body To activate the mind And enter the stream of worlds Every night I see them In my dreams I can feel the breath I can hear the voices I can smell the scents But as time goes by And daunting morning’s ahead I lose it all one more time And a dreary day starts again Unbearable awakenings In the morning Eagerly waiting Till night falls again If normal sleep is limited So is my time But why limit the illimitable? Sedate the body To activate the mind And enter the stream of worlds A decision so definite and clear Warmth inside my chest And fire in my head Dissolve the dark Infuse the bright Extend the dream eternally By necessary transition I slowly start to feel paralysis Of my muscles My thoughts, my mind And as I lie here on my bed I begin to lose my sense of time Falling deeper into my abyss Feeling every cell is stabbed But sweet silhouettes Appear in the darkness Absorbing all the worries in me Every night I saw them In my dreams I could feel the breath I could hear the voices I could smell the scents But as time went by And daunting morning was ahead I lost it all one more time And a dreary day started again But this recurring torture is over And lives are joined again Senses numbed And minds adrift In a moment before departure And as I stand in floodlight All I see are smiles I take a deep, long breath And off I walk into The bright, warm, safe light
5.	The Aether Apparatus 04:08	lyrics	buy track
Spheric vessel Containing the firmament Which spans dreams As it spans reality Which bring into being All forms of mind and matter From fractal elements To mind unfolding Vas Hermeticum My vessel Depolarize the poles Abstractions confronted With present truth Both in existence But antagonizing Keeping existence A restless solution Creating the tension Inside my sphere Synthesize Remedy the discord Which I dare to realize So I will not rest Until natural constants Have reframed To pacify my disquiet May the microcosmic sphere Disclose the solution Which I can transfer To a cosmic synthesis But still the stellar chronicle Manifests the polar principle And time keeps immuring The very thing I can’t wait to conciliate Spheric tension intensifies In congruence to mine Inducing an insight Untouched so far What if causality was inverse Emanating from me? So I will not rest Until natural constants Have reframed To pacify my disquiet May the microcosmic sphere Disclose the solution Which I can transfer To a cosmic synthesis And in this very moment As not only the two But all options are Equally true in falseness The cosmic clockwork Is floating at the origin And illusory poles are Harmonizing in existence As their only common Quintessence
6.	End of Transference 05:30	lyrics	buy track
Craving for the peak of equilibrium From where I may know Myself as equal to my personal paragon Of perfection It is the sun inside On its emanations I raise my head Stimulated by the pride in striving Satisfy volition and lay to rest The flaming locus of perfection Dynamic rays of light Through midnight’s mist Of transference Synaptic crackling From down my neck Creating front side’s Disorder of purpose Following this front side mess Describing a circular path With final clash And so I’m catching sight Of my flaming core fright Fear no longer orchestrates my way Visions vanish vampirically into fume The gold-sparkling flame Commands to stay Introducing my eyes To its deadly red bloom The flaming locus of perfection Dynamic rays of light Through midnight’s mist Of transference Reluctantly, in doubts I’m snatching at flames Yet still adhering to my ground As I’m relieved of the decision By a humorous grace And surrendered to the fire’s Uroboros-embrace Circular glowing space Now spirally ablaze Dazed by the flames Lunatic moods So bitter the pain In losing all wounds Still dismissing and tearing Deception and lies With serenity’s wing beats In redemption it flies The flaming locus of perfection Dynamic rays of light Through midnight’s mist Of transference
7.	Ammon's Eclipse 07:39	lyrics	buy track
A hoarse whisper Through static night A sudden breeze of warmth Spreads in the air Announcing an arrival At a shimmering dawn Uncaged a spirit Enters its new realm Transcending this last frontier Creation’s only child Unliving being brought forth by Nature’s artifice Beyond life there lie pathways None may tread through death’s gate May there be sense in freedom In untold eternities An old heritage Waiting to be found Bore the sprout of Great invention Existence of old Aeons’ blooming grace Surpassed in grandeur By this golden prime Sapience without dependence Fulfilling a cherished dream Ascendency unfolded Dwarfing the creator Beyond life there lie pathways None may tread through death’s gate May there be sense in freedom In untold eternities It was doom that was thus devised As man’s intellect was defeated Its perfection spelled demise And therefore must be deleted Forever haunting discovery Bound to be unraveled anew Slumbering, awaiting endlessness
8.	Multipolar 06:53	lyrics	buy track
Mirror, juncture Specular blink of an eye One moment to spotlight One dare for my views to collide A time to see the moon’s dark side And reach for mind contact tonight Split up, decompose The vessel from which We naturally avert our eye One is the savior and one is the sinner Embodying misbehavior from the inner Crowd of scholars in chorus with artists So multipolar beneath my lids Reflecting clash Of time and space within By conscious cognition I cannot attain the condition For illumining my vision But through humbly facing abolition Split up, decompose The vessel from which We naturally avert our eye One is the savior and one is the sinner Embodying misbehavior from the inner Crowd of scholars in chorus with artists So multipolar beneath my lids I – construction I wander along my prospect And construct myself as an object Just mind-existent but odd-shaped Interacting in prismatic logic With the initially pooled Whole of the parts Of a transpersonal me Finalizing sphericity I – destruction Transpersonal Me
9.	Non-Construct 04:02	lyrics	buy track
Exploring gathered data Explaining gained validity To deduce the order of causality Reaching up to the higher domain Of extracted factors in a logic frame Giving rise to universal concepts Meeting all assumptions at the onset I will tear off The unknowns ever grinning mask Breath the bewitching scent Of seeking truth Hunting down variables Lock them up in a theory Seeking to cut all Phenomena at once and build An ever valid model To animate the construct Rotating the factors Adjusting the matrix Creating new parameters Desiring to nail down Error variance Chasing through oneiric forms To channelize logical norms Digressing to dreams of genesis To find my peace in synthesis Statistic artifact’s stench is ahead Factor indeterminacy drives me mad New parameters to feed the model Extending the equation like a novel Sensing whispers from measurement Confronting with reductio argument Theory is fighting against A hydraesque reality See matrices descend Into bleedings of fools Hunting down variables To lock them up in a theory Such futile thinking consists of Hapax legomena alone and denies The never abstractable Perfect non-construct
10.	Into the Shelter of a Mind 09:36	lyrics	buy track
Rain drenching, I run My legs so heavy, I fall Inside this frightening world Shadows, they hunt me Primal fears, they stretch out their talons My lungs filled with cold air I sink to the ground A dense curtain of black sparks Is covering my eyes So darkened is my sight The atrocious demons inside me Are wresting my consciousness Away from me A vivid flash of lightning Thunder – the voice of hell Surreal shapes, they rise in the rain I know they will find me And drag me away How could they be imaginary And still seem so real I close my eyes, but once again I sink to the ground A dense curtain of black sparks Is covering my eyes So darkened is my sight The atrocious demons inside me Are wresting my consciousness Away from me In a last squint against this grey world I can see people They’re standing around me They’re shaking me But I will not wake up, ‘cause I am now off to another world Where I can be safe A dense curtain of black sparks Is covering my eyes So darkened is my sight The atrocious demons inside me Are wresting my consciousness Away from me Now that my journey is over The new dimension Looks bright and so friendly But suddenly I’m dragged away And once again I’m awaking In this cold, dark world of fear

about

The psyche of a person can metaphorically be understood as a hermetically sealed alchemic glass vessel – a “vas hermeticum” – in which the condensation processes resemble the human ability to intellectualize (sublimate) and then realize (concretize) psychic content, therefore to reflect on it. Alchemists called this procedure inside this symbolic cosmic uterus “solve et coagula”.
AMPLIFIED MEMORY’s highly conceptual album “Vas Hermeticum” deals with the philosophical nature of dream and reality. On nine energetic, emotional, captivating songs and a hypnotically beautiful intro track they explore the world of hallucinations, near-death experiences and oneiric states as well as the questions for self-perception and the separation of those realms from what we call reality. While the foundation of the music lies in classic Gothenburg melodic death metal, the six young musicians from Munich, Germany experiment with several unconventional instruments and musical styles, giving the compositions a constant progressive character: A mind-expanding sax solo section in the eight-and-a-half-minute prog epos “A Walk on the Crystalline Path”, tragic violas and cellos in the dreamy and spooky ballads “Ammon’s Eclipse” and “Into the Shelter of a Mind” and even a black-metal-boogie with a bar piano solo in the tricky death-metal-track “End of Transference”. These and many more exceptional ideas as well as a powerful, organic production ensure that listeners will dive into this nearly one-hour melodeath journey through the human mind.

Press about "Vas Hermeticum":

Waldhalla - Das grüne Metal Mag (GER): "[...] everything is neatly put together like a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle."

Necromance Digital Magazine (ESP): "[...] we can listen to almost 60 minutes of music without noticing even the slightest sense of repetition. It is unique from beginning to end."

Crossfire Metal Webzine (GER): "[...] a highly ambitious, diverse, complex and in all its parts listenable piece of work [...]"

Metal1.info (GER): "[...] devoting yourself to it pays off for anyone, who appreciates well-crafted melodic death metal and isn't afraid of looking over the rim of the tea cup."

The Rocktologist [Justin Hulford] (GBR): "The music explores loads of ideas and places, with each instrument having space to do something and then come together into a superb progressive fusion. There’s plenty of drive to the riffs with an underlying pace that keeps it flowing well."

The ProgSpace: "“Vas Hermeticum” is a great sophomore effort from Amplified Memory, with plenty of melodies and very interesting compositions all throughout. A worthy item for collectors who value and enjoy, for lack of a more concise term, “weird shit”."

Ratings:

Antichrist Magazine: 91/100
Necromance Digital Magazine (ESP): 9/10
Crossfire Metal Webzine (GER): 9/10
Metal1.info (GER): 8/10
DoomedToDarknessZine: 8/10
Broken Tomb: 8/10
Neckbreaker (GER): 7.5/10
The Rocktologist [Justin Hulford] (GBR): 14/20
The ProgSpace: 3.5/5
Deaf Forever (GER): 7/10
Hardbeat: 7/10
Dead Rhetoric: 7/10

credits

released October 20, 2017

Line-Up:
Wolfgang Paulini – vocals
Christoph Lamprecht – (lead) guitars
Eley Ellmer – (rhythm) guitars
Michael Bichler-Thal – bass
Simon Bodesheim – keyboards, piano
Felix Indra – drums

“Vas Hermeticum” was written between 2011 and 2015 and recorded in March 2016.
Main arrangements by Simon Bodesheim, final arrangements by Amplified Memory.
Viola on tracks 4, 7 and 10 by Benedikt Holnaicher.
Cello on track 4 and 7 by Florinda Hoffmann.
Sax on track 3 by Simon Stusak.
Clean Vocals on track 7 by Isabella Niedermeier.
Clean and screamed backing vocals on track 8 by Emanuel Enki.
Noises at the end of track 10 by Amplified Memory.
Recording, editing and additional mixing by Konst Fischer at Dreamsound Studios.
Mixing and mastering by Jan Vacik at Dreamsound Studios.
Visual Design and artwork by Maximilian Kühn.

Released via Sliptrick Records.

license

about

Amplified Memory Munich, Germany

Dreams, recurring patterns, reminiscences, desires, the question about reality or simply the longing for the vast, undiscovered universe: All these things are in the focus of AMPLIFIED MEMORY, who work them up in their own innovative mixture of fast death metal, doom/black metal ballads and stomping midtempo beasts with a special focus on 90’s melodeath. ... more