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.
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.
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.
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.
Memento Mori currently holds generally favorable reviews on Metacritic with a 69.
The album was nominated for a Dove Award for Rock Album of the Year at the 42nd GMA Dove Awards.
Band
Production
Additional personnel