Review of Burial Within - Self Titled

It’s not every day I get the chance to review a metal band from the south, so I immediately leapt upon the chance of reviewing Tennessee upstarts Burial Within. Sharing a locale with bands such as Epoch of Unlight and Brodequin is always a good way to raise interest for me, especially when they’re not too far of a drive from my own hometown.

It’s not really that I expected an earth shattering production from an unsigned band; I just didn’t expect everything to sound this hollow and distant. After the first initial shock you get used to it. The fact that most of the percussion work is completely overpowered by the kick drum and an echoing snare seriously bothers me. Nor am I too impressed with one of the band members shouting “yeah” at whomever the fuck at the end of “Obsessed with Suffering”. That really should not have been left in there; it comes off as just a wee bit unprofessional.

“Of no Consequence” is about as good as it gets really, drawing parallels to they style of Beneath the Massacre. Its not exactly astounding, but despite its extremely unimaginative and hackneyed riffs it at the very least holds attention. “Fear as a Weapon” starts the downward spiral of by the numbers death metal through beating the dead horse of conventionalism without daring to step out of the safety of familiar musicality. “Legacy of Failure” is a somewhat bland affair that never manages to stay entertaining for more than a few seconds before it flounders around in more pointless riffing that really sounds slapped together rather than a deliberate, coherent musical vision that has a focused direction. “Obsessed with Suffering” continues the album's trepidation, walking carefully along worn lines of employing recycled riffs courtesy of The Red Chord and Between the Buried and Me while “A Life in Decay” ends the album on a disappointing note altogether. They at least save the album from going on a whole sale crap fest, but the reliance on simplistic, unimaginative breakdowns and dumbed down chugging ala Cephalic Carnage is a serious concern I have with Burial Within.

I have no doubt these guys can seriously tear shit up live, but I am extremely unconvinced that this is anything but an average, mediocre, run of the mill experiment in deathcore. All in all, this is astonishingly bland.

Release Details

Burial Within

Self Titled

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