Metal Anarchy

Memoriam (ex-Bolt Thrower) have premiered a new song titled “At The Point Of No Return.” This track is from the band’s final album, “Endgame,” which will be released on January 29.

Vocalist Karl Willetts commented:

“‘At The Point Of No Return‘ comes from a feeling that has become increasingly difficult to shake. Watching the world move towards disaster while the people with the power to change its direction continue to push forward. You see the destruction, hear the justifications and recognize the same rhetoric being used repeatedly. Another population is told to make sacrifices. Another generation is expected to fight. People are left trying to make sense of something that should never have happened.

The older I get, the harder I find it to accept how readily human lives become expendable. Behind every report of casualties are people who had plans. They had someone waiting for them, something they wanted to do, somewhere they hoped to be. Then a decision is made, sometimes thousands of miles away, and all of that is taken from them. That is where this song begins for me. With the people who have to live with the consequences.

I have spent a considerable part of my life writing and performing music that deals with conflict, death, and remembrance. Over the years, those subjects have become increasingly personal. You become more aware of how fragile everything is, how quickly circumstances can change, and how much we take for granted until it disappears.

There is anger in these words, certainly. I still feel that anger when I see cruelty rewarded, division encouraged, and suffering explained away as though it is an unavoidable part of somebody else’s plan. Writing gives me somewhere to put that feeling. Getting those words out, and standing behind them, still matters to me.

But there is also a great deal of sadness in this song. Sadness for the lives lost, for the people left behind and for the possibility of a different future that has been destroyed along with them. The title describes the moment when the warnings have all been there, the opportunities to step back have passed, and the consequences begin to unfold. There is something terrifying about that moment. You can understand exactly what is happening and still be powerless to stop it.

With ‘Endgame‘ being our final studio album, I also hear something of our own situation in those words. Making that decision brings a lot of reflection. You think about the people you have shared the journey with and the reasons you started and everything that has happened along the way. I feel an enormous amount of pride in what we have created with Memoriam. I also feel the weight of bringing this chapter to a close. These songs contain things I needed to say while we still had this opportunity together.

The people who have supported us are part of that. When someone tells you that a lyric has meant something to them, or helped them put their own feelings into words, that stays with you. It gives the work a significance that reaches far beyond the time spent writing or recording it.

‘At The Point Of No Return‘ carries a lot of those feelings for me. Frustration, sorrow, conviction and the knowledge that time is finite. As we move towards ‘Endgame‘, I want every word to count. ‘At The Point Of No Return‘ continues the path towards ‘Endgame‘, bringing Memoriam’s longstanding commitment to remembrance and their anger at the human cost of conflict into a final, deeply reflective chapter. This Is The Endgame.”