Buried in Black are from Hamburg and are unquestionably a Metal band who don’t go for frills, if “Black Death” is anything to go by. The key influence is old school Death Metal, which seems to involve taking charge of a juggernaut and ploughing along in relentless fashion.
There are 10 tracks on this album. I really haven’t got too much to report about the first seven tracks, which share similar characteristics. The band’s guitarist has gone on record as stating that they want to create the energy of a live performance, and therefore they didn’t want it to be over-produced but live and recorded forums are different, and I think something was needed to make this work stand out. The beginning is fast and furious. Blackened Death vocals accompany the blasting drums. The music is hard-hitting and heavy. Guitars twirl and it would probably not be a good idea to play this on the motorway for fear of over-exuberant aggression. The Death Metal is controlled and there is melody. Most of all it’s Bang-Crash, with heavy vocals alternating with screams. Of course it’s lively and brutal, the skin-bashing is violent and it has a mechanical feel but whilst the energy is undeniable, I didn’t find anything distinctive or especially exciting about it. There are no breaks and little by way of development. There was a hint of a melodic riff on the 7th track “Act of Caprice” but it’s not allowed to get through. Then the mood changes subtly with “Godseed”. The start is promising. It’s slower than before, more threatening and the band allow themselves some time to develop the track. This is welcome. The usual chunky rhythm is there, but now a nice melody is picked up. The drums are going hard at it. The vocalist picks up on the melody. “Godseed” is a catchy track. We now have changes of pace and at last I felt the energy and excitement running through my veins. There’s another round of that melodic riff, capping off a good track. My fears were raised briefly when after another energetic and driving opening, the next track “Violand” seemed to drop back into the anonymous. It’s somewhere between Classic Metal and Hard Rock. The guitar work is chunky and after the exhortation to “get ready for action” there’s a colourful solo and a memorable chorus line. It’s as heavy as ever, but the togetherness of the various elements succeed in hooking in hooking the listener in. To end the album, “One Ate Seven” is deeper and darker, but moves forward impressively and belligerently in a Melodic Death way.
“Black Death” bursts into life after a number of fairly tiresome and uninspiring tracks. Apart from maybe the fourth track “One Life Left”, which has a melody of a sort, I couldn’t identify one outstanding track. It sounds like everything you’ve ever heard in this genre. Then “Godseed” came along and the album took on an energy which had to that point been missing. I’m glad I heard the best side of Buried in Black. There’s no doubt about their commitment to heaviness. What I heard here was never bad, but it was a mixture of the indifferent and the good.
www.myspace.com/buriedinblack666
http://www.buriedinblack.de
Andrew Doherty
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