Burden of Grief
Fields of Salvation
8.9
Well this is just excellent. Now it may seem like I give any old melodic death album a free ride, but so much of what I come across is just solid through and through. This is the case with Germany’s own Burden of Grief. This is their third release, and it’s about time the band gets their due. A backbone of double-bass drumming and thrashing rhythm riffs form the foundation for the various types of melodies that permeate throughout Fields of Salvation. At times the riffs rumble along like those deathy riffs found in an Intestine Baalism album, other times, the traditional At the Gates riffage rears its head. Sometimes Burden of Grief throw a curveball and hit you with some death n’ roll, similar to The Crown's recent material, but more often it’s Dark Tranquillity and Detonation melodies. Vocalist Mike Huhmann is an obvious student of the genre, as his screamed approach to vocals sounds like a diet version of Tomas Lindberg. This is all topped off with a very appropriate production that keeps the melodies, rhythm guitar, bass, and drums all in nice balance, without sounding too sticky sweet.
The best songs on Fields of Salvation are basically the first nine. (Yes, there are only nine in total). Opening track “Disaster and Decay” get the ball rolling in fine form, with Crown-like rhythms offset by Eucharist-like melodies. “Dead Soul Decline” tends to sound like Clayman-era In Flames, if this were the best song on that album. This comparison mostly stems from the short, clean guitar passages that appear in a few spots. “The Nightmare Within” takes a little while to get underway, but after some desert-like guitar lines, gets heavy in a hurry! Great harmonized leads accentuate a nicely-done solo, then BoG resume hacking away at the riffs. My personal favorite has to be the silly track, “Slowly Pass Out”. While the lyrical content is ludicrous, the song itself is supreme, while paying tribute to all the melodic death giants. “Don’t Fear the Creeper” just puts a beautiful finishing touch on this album. Much of the song is pure fucking thrash, but produced heavier.
Don’t walk, run to your local record store to check out Burden of Grief’s latest work. I was caught off-guard by this album and its high quality. In a time of severe oversaturation of the melodic death market (including the huge influx of US metalcore bands that are infatuated with Gothenburg), the cream has a tougher time rising to the top, so here’s your notice: Fields of Salvation is among the best melodeath albums of the still-young 2004.
