Memento Mori (Flyleaf album)

Memento Mori is the second studio album by American rock band Flyleaf, released through A&M/Octone Records on November 10, 2009. The title is a Latin phrase meaning "be mindful of death" or "remember you will die". Memento Mori debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200, selling 56,000 units in its opening week. It also became the first album by a female-led act to top the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart. The album sold more than 311,600 copies in the U.S. in a little over one year.

Background
Memento Mori is the follow-up to their 2005 platinum debut. It contains 14 songs, which were selected out of 18 already written. The band reunited with producer Howard Benson to make the album. The album was recorded at Bay7 Studios in Los Angeles, California. It was released on November 10, 2009. The band debuted two songs, "Chasm" and "Circle", from Memento Mori live during a small acoustic tour in Afghanistan for United States Troops.

Writing
The band began writing new music after their debut album was released. Most of the material was written while the band toured, but some songs date back as early as 2005 and 2006. "In The Dark" was written after the band released Flyleaf, though it was never played live. "Again", "Have We Lost", and "Beautiful Bride" were the first songs to be played live before they were released on the album.

"Again", the first single from Memento Mori, was released to radio and digital retail stores August 25, 2009. Meiert Avis directed the music video for "Again", released at midnight September 30, 2009, on MTV. Don Tyler directed the music video for "Beautiful Bride", released October 6, 2009. Diane Martel directed the music video for "Missing", released March 18, 2010. Giles Timms directed, animated and illustrated the animated viral music video for "Chasm", released on September 22, 2010.

The album premiered on the official Flyleaf MySpace page on November 6, 2009.

Promotion
To promote the album, the band partnered with the online calendar service Eventful for a series of fan-voted listening parties in various American cities, where they previewed songs from the album as well as music videos. There were eight such events beginning on September 28, 2009.

Reception
Memento Mori currently holds generally favorable reviews on Metacritic with a 69.

Track notes

 * "Tiny Heart" is a re-worked demo of a song that was written in the mid-2000s, before the release of Flyleaf's debut album.
 * "Again" and "Have We Lost" were written in 2007 and often performed live. These songs underwent lyrical changes during the Memento Mori sessions.
 * "Uncle Bobby" is a hidden track that is placed before "Beautiful Bride". The song can be heard by rewinding the disc to -4:28. On digital versions of the album, the song is track 15, after "Arise".
 * "Set Apart This Dream" was inspired by the best-selling, inspirational John Eldredge book Wild at Heart.
 * "Treasure" was written about Lacey's engagement to Joshua Sturm.
 * The expanded edition bonus track "Enemy" was used during the opening segment of the season 5 Criminal Minds episode "Risky Business".

Awards
The album was nominated for a Dove Award for Rock Album of the Year at the 42nd GMA Dove Awards.

Personnel
Band
 * Lacey Sturm – lead vocals
 * Sameer Bhattacharya – lead guitar
 * Jared Hartmann – rhythm guitar
 * James Culpepper – drums, percussion, timpani, and wind chimes
 * Pat Seals – bass, cover art

Production
 * Howard Benson - producer, keyboards
 * Chris Lord-Alge - mixing
 * Dave McNair - mastering