What is this? Another new MEMORIAM album, just about a month after the release of the band’s fifth full length “Rise To Power”? Or is this maybe just a bootleg? The answer to both questions is the same: no! “War Rages On – Artefacts” is an official compilation that I was personally hoping someone would compile for quite a while already. The reason is quite simple. For many years it has become the norm already that material of bands gets released in all kinds of different formats. There’s digital only stuff, then you got exclusive vinyl editions or cassette tapes and of course CDs, that often feature different bonus tracks on different editions. As a die hard fan of a band you obviously would like to get all of those songs in your collection. But does it really make any sense to buy a limited vinyl 7″ EP when you not even own a record player anymore? Or to buy a CD in various different editions, just because it has different bonus tracks? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with strictly limited collectors editions (e.g. colored vinyl EPs or picture discs or whatever), as long as there’s a possibility to get those songs somewhere else as well. And just because a song is also featured on a CD, doesn’t mean the limited collectors item is less valuable. This finally leads us to this new compilation CD from Cosmic Key Creations. It compiles all MEMORIAM songs that you don’t find on the band’s regular album editions and even some previously unreleased recordings. Tracks 1 to 5 comprise of the demo material that originally was released on three 7″ EPs: ‘War Rages On’ and ‘Resistance’ is taken from “The Hellfire Demos” (2016), ‘Drone Strike’ and ‘Surrounded (By Death)’ comes from “The Hellfire Demos II” (2017) and ‘The Captive’, a cover of the classic SACRILEGE track (featuring their original vocalist Lynda Simpson), was originally released on “The Hellfire Demos III” (2017). Next in line is a demo version of ‘Contempt Grows’, which was originally only available as a Japanese bonus track of the “To The End” album in 2021. These six tracks alone would already have been reason enough for me to get a copy of this compilation, but it gets even better. The last five tracks on here haven’t been released before at all so far and are taken from various MEMORIAM demos. First of all there’s instrumental versions of ‘War Rages On’ and ‘Drone Strike’ (both from 2016), that definitely worked pretty good without vocals already. Then there’s a slower version of ‘Drone Strike’ (here entitled as ‘Drone Strike V2’) and a live studio jam of ‘Prisoners Of War’ (both from 2017) and last but not least a demo version of ‘Contempt Grows’ (from 2020). All of these demo versions come up with a great sound quality already, so it’s definitely not the usual poor sounding material that is just on here to fill the tracklist a bit more. The CD is limited to 1000 copies and comes in a super jewel case with a 20 pages booklet, that features lyrics and pictures. So, by purchasing a copy of “War Rages On – Artefacts” CD only collectors can finally complete their MEMORIAM as well now. Highly recommened for fans of the British Death Metal masters. For more band info please visit www.facebook.com/memoriam2016, for ordering information check out www.facebook.com/cosmickeycreations