BEST SECOND RELEASE 2009 Award Winner!

Runners-Up: Owl City (Ocean Eyes), Benjiman (SKRIPT (Spreading Kingdom Realities In Perilous Times)).

Flyleaf’s long-awaited second album (and we’re not kidding there— the wait was 4 years! ) is a concept album of sorts; and instead of lyrics, the liner notes contain ‘journal entries’ that form a complementary story (the final entry of which gave us goosebumps, as did no less than 5 of the album’s songs).

Memento Mori kicks right off with “Beautiful Bride”, a great Hard-Edged Rocker that showcases frontwoman Lacey Sturm’s excellent— and now both newly-expanded and richer— vocal range.

Following that is hit single “Again”, an excellent and very memorable heavy rock track.

Layered rocker “Chasm” contains some unusual vocal rhythms and melody combinations that are also memorable.

“Missing” is a regular-rock track that has an interesting use of synths underneath the guitars.

“This Close” features melody combinations that are occasionally somewhat unsettling, in keeping with the track’s lyrics and story.

“The Kind” contains some slightly intense visual metaphors (explained by the journal entry), and because of this it’s a fairly powerful track, too.

“In The Dark” begins muted and, well, dark ; then slides into great fast-paced rock (which itself turns into excellent full Hard Rock in the chorus).

“Set Apart This Dream” is a medium-paced, regular-rock track with sweepingly visual lyrics. Interestingly, the muted segue that follows after is basically a snippet of an extra song.

“Swept Away” again features occasionally unsettling music; and while its chorus is sung as usual, its verses are actually spoken. The end of the track purposefully collapses into a music-box segue.

“Tiny Heart” is another memorable song, this one with a piano/guitar combination in the verses and great regular rock in the chorus. It flows into the next track without a pause.

“Melting (Interlude)” is a slightly suspenseful instrumental/sound-effect track.

Excellent song “Treasure” musically builds to Rock in perfectly-placed steps; and, combined with the journal entry, its lyrics form a beautifully moving picture of true love.

“Circle” is a heavier track that— again, combined with the journal entry— is quite powerful.

And encouraging track “Arise”, with its powerful final minute, closes the album perfectly.

[Note: The album also contains a pregap hidden track called "Uncle Bobby", which is a eulogy. As such, it's somewhat emotional, and yet still hopeful.]

Expanded Edition:

The Expanded Edition contains 4 B-sides (“Break Your Knees”, “Enemy”, “Have We Lost”, and “Who Am I”), which range from great to a bit experimental.

Digital iTunes Version:

The Digital iTunes Version contains a cover of U2′s “Stay (Faraway, So Close)”.

And those who preordered the Expanded Edition through iTunes also exclusively received “Bittersweet”, which is a slightly suspenseful and great heavy rock B-side.

Digital Amazon Version:

The Digital Amazon Version does not contain either “Stay” or “Bittersweet”, but it does include “Tina” (from Flyleaf’s Limited Edition Much Like Falling EP).

Memento Mori is an excellent album, and worthy of Best Second Release.

Our rating for Memento Mori: 5 & 1/3 Stars.

A Best First Release Nominee in the 2006 Awards

Flyleaf begins with “I’m So Sick”. The vocals start off creepy, rip into several screamed words, and after that morph into normal singing. Lyrically, this track cries out against the sickness, darkness, and selfishness present on all levels in the world.

“Fully Alive” showcases the ring in Lacey Mosley’s great vocals.

“Perfect” describes how the drive for self-perfection can only lead to destruction, and it’s not necessary.

“Cassie” (featuring Ryan White) is both a tribute to the victims of Columbine and also a defiant anthem to hold fast to your faith even in the face of death. The musical elements underscore the lyrical message perfectly, with heavy guitars and urgent vocals. We still get goosebumps from this one.

“Sorrow”, a medium-paced, emotional rocker, encourages you to hold on because sorrow will not last forever, and there is still hope.

“I’m Sorry” is a rhythmic and nicely heavy track.

“All Around Me” is a great rock ballad; and its neat final bridge changes the rhythm, speeding it up shortly.

“Red Sam” (featuring Ryan White) begins with a troubled situation and a despairing thought, but then quickly responds to that thought and points out that there is, and always will be, hope left. The rest of the song expands on that, ending with a firmly spoken last chorus of “…you are the truth, saving my life”.

“There For You” begins softly; the guitars kick in for the chorus and last bridge, the verses in between them again soft. Lyrically this song describes the deep love Lacey has for her friends and the desire she has to be there for them.

“Breathe Today” is an urgent, rhythmic rocker.

And the final track is “So I Thought” (featuring Ryan White). Something about it draws you in, especially during the latter part when the guest joins the chorus. It’s an emotional song that illustrates either a breaking or broken relationship and the eventual healing of it, closing the disc off right.

Special Edition Bonus Content:

The Special Edition contains free goodies for your cell phone (including a ringtone); a poster on the other side of the liner notes; five new, freshly-recorded acoustic-version tracks on the CD; and a DVD.

The excellent acoustic versions of “Fully Alive”, “Red Sam”, “Cassie”, “I’m So Sick”, and “All Around Me” are all fairly full-sounding (they use at least two acoustic guitars on most of them, plus percussion, etc.), and Lacey’s new vocals adapt perfectly to the softer style, projecting emotion in a more vulnerable way. The band also incorporates new and/or changed melodies, and even some new lyrics, into the songs as well.

The DVD features music-video-like performances of all 5 acoustic-version tracks, as well as 3 of Flyleaf’s actual, original-version music videos.

Our rating for Flyleaf: 5 & 1/4 Stars.

(Photo Credits: Ember)

Live Show Rating: 5 Stars.