The strange thing for me was that I had recently been thinking about this always energetic and fascinatingly forward thinking Metal band and was saying to myself “how have I lost track of them”. I figured that based on too many things coming at me from all sides it was easy for this to be the case but upon digging around I noticed this Facebook Post yesterday by the bands founding creative Mircea Eftemie. He lines out the current state of affairs and sadly they are not too good if you have been a fan of these guys at any point in their career. I’ve copied and pasted his status update for you to examine below.
Dear Facebook friends, followers & foes,
Its been over 6 months since the last update, and therefore I must humbly apologize.
Being the last original and founding member of Mnemic, I feel that it’s my responsibility and finally time to break the silence and shed some light on the bands current situation and prospect. I am sure anyone who have been following our endeavors, listening to our music, or had some sort of a relation to Mnemic, have been wondering what’s in the melting pot?
The main reason for this update, is because wherever I have gone, I’ve met people who have been asking me: “When are you playing live again? When is a new album coming out? Whats happening with the band? Why so silent? No news?”.
Well, here is a bit of background… When we started the band, we where influenced by 3 great artists, Meshuggah, Fear Factory & Strapping Young Lad (plus everything else Devin touched). We had a common artistic vision for the sound and look and a common goal when composing. We where all able to communicate musically on the same level, as we all contributed with our personal signature to the greater vision. Luckily and fortunately we ended up releasing albums on a great and big label, touring 4-5 continents, and even ended up touring and making friends with the bands that influenced us and hey, even Metallica asked us out! Something most bands only dream of nowadays – call us extremely f**ing lucky. Fact is, people and situations change, and going through multiple line-up changes, not being able to generate an income from music and struggling to survive, so did the vision change.
I will never be bankrupt on creativity but my personal taste in music has also changed over the years. I am not interested in sparkling clean productions and Djenty polyrhythmic one-stringed riffing, flavored with melodic choruses. I have written this type of music for over a decade, and to put it simply, I am sick and tired of it. To be completely honest I really dislike the Djent genre, because no matter how extremely talented these musicians and bands are, no one can write a good song, and they all sound the same – at least to me. I am also pretty sure we have regressed as a band (or musicians), if some do consider us part of the Djent genre?
In conclusive, to everyone I have met, that have been asking, and anyone else wondering, all I can say is that there are no shows planned, no new music or a new album in the making. Why? Because there is no artistic vision any longer, and my heart is no longer into this music. I hunger for raw power, simplicity, and good songs. That is also why I thrive in a new formation called BLOOD EAGLE – check it out, its death metal, it sounds nothing like Mnemic.
It’s a dynamic world and change is the only constant, if you do not continue to innovate or shift out, you will be out of the game. In other words, so is Mnemic, therefore this is either a hiatus or a break-up. Only time will tell if we will get back together with the old or new line-up to make music again.
In the meantime I would love to hear your opinions, what you think we should do, how much we suck, how much you love us, how much you would pay us to either shut the hell up or make some new music?
(BTW, if you like, please do share this post, cause Facebook will not display it to everyone connected to our page.)
Thanks for reading.
MirceaPS. And if you would like to read my rants in general, follow me on Twitter @MirceaGEftemie
So there you have it. At the moment it seems as though Mnemic is over and done but who knows if this will be the case for the longer duration. Band founders change their minds over and over and retirement never truly seems to be true as we have seen with events by the likes of KISS and Ozzy and some others. Perhaps some away time is what Mircea needs from this to come back retooled and fired up about bringing you the Metal once more. When this news comes to my radar you can be sure that I will get a posting online for you to be aware. To close this up I will add all the members of Mnemic over the years. I snagged this from Wikipedia to be properly correct.
Guillaume Bideau – vocals (ex-Scarve) (2006–present)
Mircea Gabriel Eftemie – guitar, keyboards (1998–present)
Simone Bertozzi – bass guitar (2011–present)
Brian Larsen – drums (2011–present)
Michael Bøgballe – vocals (2001–2005)
Mikkel Larsen – bass guitar (1998–2003)
Mark Bai – Vocals (1998–2001)
Thomas ‘Obeast’ Koefoed – bass guitar (2003–2011)
Brian “Brylle” Rasmussen – drums (1998–2011)
Rune Stigart – guitar (1998–2011)
Victor-Ray Salomonsen Ronander – guitar (2011–2013)
Tony Jelencovich – vocals (2005–2006)
Victor-Ray Salomonsen Ronander – guitar (2009-2010)
Brian Larsen – drums (2011)
Official Website: http://www.mnemic.com
Links below will lead you to some of the bands output and I encourage that you check them out if our own existing reviews about them have enticed you. Remember its never too late to get into a Metal band even if they have chosen to call it a day. You can always blast their melodies and sit back with a sad “why wasn’t I listening earlier” kind of head 🙂