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Burialmound - Black Death
2001 Sound Riot
Track
Listing:
1. Legion (Intro)
2. Black Death
3. Devilspawn
4. Black Goat Of The Woods
5. Dust Of Necropolis
6. Funeral Night And The Immortal Evil
7. Hellbounded Infernal Ones
8. Elohim
9. Beast Among Us
10. Hunger Crawls Under Surface
11. The Grim (Black Death part II)
Line-Up:
Vocals: Raven
Guitars: A. Sääksniemi, B. Niininen
Bass: B. Niininen
Drums: B. Niininen
Website: welcome.to/burialmound
Shev's Rating: A-
Average Album Rating: A-
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Shev's Review:
The Finland based Burialmound, formerly known as the black metal act Utgard,
assault the senses with their first full length album which, as the title
implies, mix the stylings of both black metal and death metal.
Generally, the amalgamation of black and death completely turns me (and the
stereo) off, but Burialmound actually does a commendable job with
such a task. They obviously have a lot of room for growth as a few
songs here are duds, a few downright suck, but overall they do a phenomenal
job of fusing thin guitars, Satanic lyrics and black metal yelps with low
growls, intense drumming, and prime death metal riffing. Recorded
at Watercastle Studios, the production on Black Death is surprisingly
great given their history as a black metal band releasing very limited
numbers of 7-inches. The superior production sheds much light on the
insane work of B. Niininen on drums, who also contributes his talent to bass
and guitars. Complimenting that is the intense vocal range of Raven
and the intricate and complex guitar work of A. Sääksniemi. The
overall result is a very Vital Remains meets Behemoth sound,
and as far as the utterly confused black/death genre goes, Burialmound
is welcome in my CD player anytime. Song
summaries include...
- Legion (Intro)
- Short intro of Slayer-esque chugging guitars and
tribal beats. Only a minute long thankfully. C
- Black Death - 5:16 packed full of
quality low-end growls, incredibly unique guitar work, memorable
riffs, drum fills, blast beats, and sick tempo changes. This is
the epitome of "starting off on the right foot". A+
- Devilspawn - Kicks off with some furious
drumming accompanied by a mix of power guitars and elaborate picking
before tapering off into a more comfortable pace. Doesn't last
long as they move back to what they were doing before, and break into
something new: Fast complexity with black metal vocals.
They really do a great job trading off between the three styles,
mixing it up as they go. A
- Black Goat Of The Woods - Starts out
like this is going to be a slower death metal tune, but turns into a
truly nice blend of raw black metal and speedy thrash. Not bad,
but after "Black Death" and "Devilspawn", it just
doesn't stand out as strong. B-
- Dust Of Necropolis - Busts
through the double swinging tavern doors with guns blazing, but :29 into the song it settles down into a
mid-paced, smoke-belching, war-machine with a few short, insane
spasms. At 4:06 long, it tends to drag on. C
- Funeral Night And The Immortal Evil -
Begins in conflagrant death metal fashion, but quickly turns into a
strange combination of mostly doom and black metal with slight death
metal influences. Structured like doom, played like black.
Incredibly eerie. A-
- Hellbounded Infernal Ones - Some of the
most interesting guitars I've heard on a black metal song, including a
couple bizarre solo's from :58 to 1:11 and from 1:34 to 1:50. A
little slow, but never boring. A
- Elohim - Even though this is a fast
little death metal inspired number with superb drumming, the song
itself lacks direction and just carries on endlessly. Would have
made a nice mid-album break if it was only a minute and a half long,
but at over four minutes in length this is simply way too much. D
- Beast Among Us - A combination of blast
beats, double bass, and uninspired riffs insulting one's intelligence
for over four minutes. D-
- Hunger Crawls Under Surface - Very odd,
off-key assailment with a bit of Gorguts-like influence. Nice
changes between breakneck speed and mid-to-slow agony. B
- The Grim (Black Death part II) - A slow,
moody, repetitive song not nearly as inspired as "Black
Death" from track 2. C-
Shev's Rating: A-
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