Videoclip of the Month!!!

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Before The Torn - Burying Saints

Before The Torn - Burying Saints


Burying Saints is Before The Torn’s debut album release. Before The Torn is a Portuguese band which crosses melodic death metal and melodic metalcore together. This album was produced by Oh Damn! Productions. This album has definitely made a very good first impression of what this band is like and is trying to achieve. With a new wave of bands that like to combine melodic death metal as well as metalcore together on the horizon, these guys are up against steep competition.

These guys are one of the very few bands that are actually successful with combining melodic death metal and metalcore together. Many bands sound generic, boring, often slow and loose. These guys are totally the opposite. Some of the music on here can pack more punch on a single track that some of the other bands of the same genre can in a whole album. I think the real secret to their success is that they do not follow suit with the other bands. Usually other bands try to blend the two genres together to make a completely different hybrid sound. Now, what these guys have done is great, they have separated the two genres rather than trying to blend the music together. This is great because it induces two things. First of all it gets the best from both worlds and can grab people attention and secondly, it keeps the album as a whole interesting and not repetitive. Even though in some tracks they have both elements put together in the one song. It still feels like they have separated them. But of course, they have blended a couple of tracks together. But this wasn’t such a bad idea because it doesn’t work against them. It actually helps the album by adding more scope to their music.

There is a certain vibe that makes these guys remind me of a certain band that has very similar style to these guys. As Blood Runs Black sounds like a very close relative to these guys, they basically have the same vocal style, melody, guitar work and even structure of the songs. The only differences really are that As Blood Runs Black is a lot faster and they like to concentrate more on breakdowns that on anything else. Not to mention that one combines metalcore with melodic death and the other with deathcore. But other than that, these two bands are almost fraternal twins. Now I’m not saying that these guys are a slow and weak band. Definitely not, these guys can and do pack quite a lot of energy into their music. Sometimes the sheer speed of the music is more than enough to energize someone. And the best thing is that it actually makes sense, they don’t throw their melody out the window. The drumming can go insane at times and even the guitars can keep up with the pace of the music. The final thing that they added to seal the deal with the sense of energy is the use of breakdowns. They aren’t exactly the heaviest in the world, but then again, these guys aren’t the most brutal in the world. So it could have been weird adding breakdowns.

Now the final ingredient to their recipe of metalcore with a side of melodic death is of course, emotion. They are not many successful metalcore bands in the world that manage to get away from adding emotion into their music, I guess Before The Torn figured this out. These guys chose to go with the more uplifting type of emotion, rather than the more depressive kind. They have managed to keep the momentum going while these parts are happening as well which definitely a bonus on their part. Another thing is that the emotion doesn’t only derive from just one component of their music, It comes from the band itself. It comes from; the guitars and the vocals and yes, even the drumming. I think this is probably the highlight of their music and it’s their musicianship which makes them so successful.  

Not only what the music is composed of is quality material, the way they distribute the music is also another thing that really highlights these guys. As mentioned before, these guys are very tight and really work in a band as a single unit. This is very important because the last thing these guys want to do is confuse the listener. Also, I honestly think that they have released their debut EP just at the right time because the sound that they have now suits them perfectly.

Another thing to point out is that each member of the band seems to be pulling their weight. They all seem to be sufficiently skilled to play like they do. Let’s start with the vocals, the vocalist tends to utilize his high pitch screams more than he uses his growls, but his grows are still pretty good. Another thing is that he also uses a more hardcore style of yell. The last style they have utilized are clean vocals, it’s rare for them to use it but when they do it sound great. Next the Guitar work, like any good melodic death metal band they use high pitch riffs and play with a high pace. What is excellent is how they managed to separate the melodic death metal style of riffs with the metalcore ones. These two styles in contrast really highlight the music and it sounds interesting and very filling. I think that the style of the guitar distortion and riffs they play are probably one of the most important things about this album.

Finally the drumming, the drumming is the main instrument that judges the pace of the music. I can tell you that the drummer has done an excellent job in guiding the pace of the music. I love the way he uses the Ride Cymbal, it just adds the best feeling to the music for some reason which is just great. He plays very well in both fast and slow sections of songs guiding the tempo of the band. He does well with the slower section but it’s the high tempo sections that really makes him shine. He can go crazy with the drums, it really energizes the music and gives it that extra kick. On the topic of “kick” he does have a very decent speed of his double kicks, they aren’t so over powering that it over powers the ordinary drumming, but isn’t so quiet that everything else over powers it.   Now there is already enough to keep the music flowing and interesting, they have done this to ensure maximum variety.

There are some really good tracks on this album, although there is a strong sense of repetitiveness while listening to this album. The first actual song is The Fall Of Hope, now they have decided to start the song off with one of the best tracks in the album, The Fall Of Hope leans closer towards melodic death metal rather than metalcore. It is such a beautiful track with the best emotions out of the whole album.  The music is tight, well rounded and isn’t too fast or too slow. Now the next track leans towards metalcore. The contrast immediately shows and it feels like there is variety in the album. Hands Of Salvation is a slower track that focuses more on melody than anything else. There is a very small hint of emotion throughout the track but It doesn’t really have much of an impact. There is only one problem with that track, and that is its boring, probably the most boring out of the whole album. Unfortunately once you hit the third track, this is where the variety ends and it stays boring until you hit the track Path To The Sky, this is an instrumental track. It is definitely the most uplifting piece in the album. But also it serves as an intro to the next track Broken, Dead, Defeated. Now this is where the fun begins. This is one insane track, the drumming is insane as well as the vocals and guitars. It is also the most melodic. Broken, Dead, Defeated is definitely the best track out of the album.   

Overall this is one hell of a debut release. These guys definitely top all the other upcoming melodic death metalcore bands out there. The way that they combine the two together is very unique and musically they are unique. There aren’t many bands that sound like this, and if there are I doubt they sound have been able to do what these guys have done. This album could have been a master piece except that it was way too repetitive. But yes, it is their debut album and an album of this quality for a debut release is great. They might just need a little bit care with constructing their tracks and put a little more though into the way the album is structured out. All of these band members seem to be talented which is another rare thing to find because usually there is at least one slacker in the group, but are is none here. I would like to recommend this album to any fans of metalcore and melodic death metal, and also hardcore fans might find this entertaining as well. I also would like to recommend this to any fans of As Blood Runs Black and August Burns Red as well because they do have similar styles to both of them. Furthermore I would like recommend the track The Fall Of Hope to anyone who likes very melodic death metal with a metalcore twist, and the track Broken, Dead, Defeated as well. For maximum pleasure, I think it’s better to listen Path To The Sky first because it serves as an intro for that amazing track. These two tracks are guaranteed to satisfy fans of the genre.

Overall this is damn good debut EP that would not be overlooked. I think that these guys have already found their sound and with a little refining these guys should become big and could be the pioneers to the upcoming wave of melodic death metalcore genre. I cannot wait for their next album to come out. Burying Saints gets a 17/20 


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