Saturday, December 6, 2008

After the Burial - Rareform (2008)


Though it's one of the trendiest and most eye-rolling genres out there, the metalcore 'evolution' known as 'deathcore' can often prove surprising when done right. After the Burial are a band from Minnesota who infuse their deathcore with a lot of melodies, it's almost like a hyper melodic death metal with the deathcore breakdowns. This is their second album.

Though the majority of the music here didn't do it for me, there are a few good points. The emotionally charged, melodic groove bridge of "Drifts". The mystifying leads over the groove in "Cursing Akhenaten". The insanely catchy little melodies in "The Fractal Effect". The album has a very crisp sound to it, and the style here should appeal to many fans of modern melodic American death metal, or perhaps the more technical bands like Arsis. There are quite a few Meshuggah-like grooves scattered through the tracks as well. Vocals are a mix of brutal Swedish core grunts and snarl vocals.

Rareform is not a total miss. There is a talent on display here, but for myself the great riffing is only brought low when they break into the more generic grooves. Without these they'd have a pretty sweet melodic death metal record. As it stands, I found much of the album forgettable with the exception of a few choice riffs.

Verdict: Indifference (5.5/10)

http://www.myspace.com/aftertheburial

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