Angry Metal Guy

Burial Ritual // Tower of Silence
Rating: 3.0/5.0 – Starts out not so good, gets awesome by the end..
Label: Unsigned
Release Date: Available now from CDBaby
Website: myspace.com/burialritualband

Burial Ritual hail from Wisconsin, as part of the state’s burgeoning death metal scene. Playing what I would describe as blackened death metal, they also sound pretty original for the scene as well. The gorey cover and the logo by Christophe help set the stage for the band as well..

The first thing that stood out for me is that Burial Ritual rock one of the best recorded demos I’ve heard from Wisconsin bands up until now. The production is pretty solid for a self-funded recording of a fairly unknown band. The drums are heavily triggered, as is the way, but all-in-all it’s not too annoying and the recording definitely gets across the primary sound for these guys which is pretty much brutal death metal, complete with chug and pig squeals, meets atmospheric black metal.

This is actually a pretty interesting combination of sounds, if you think about it. There aren’t very many bands who have even tried to do something similar to it. However, the execution could really be better. The first three tracks on the album suffer from what I consider to be bad changes, boring riffs and way too much repetitiveness. Instead of punching you in the face with their brutality, they kinda poke you on the forehead with their persistence, while never really having the intended effect of kicking your ass.

Fortunately, the record gets better. While the fourth track “Cannibalistic Tendencies” is better than the first three tracks, it still has some sorta boring funeral doom style riffs that do nothing for me, but also there are a couple of awesome riffs and some good guitar melodies that make up for it. This transitional song brings us into the part of the record that I think is actually pretty brilliant. Starting with the acoustic intro to “Atop a Funeral Pyre,” the album goes from boring to compelling. The riffs that were previously boring become face crushing and the composition is absolutely 100% improved. Honestly, I’ve never heard anything like this in my life. Usually a band doesn’t rebound on the second half of an album so strong as these guys do, but for whatever reason the rest of this record is a fucking blinder.

What this tells me is that Burial Ritual has some serious potential. If they can get their composition in tact with everything else that they’re doing well—that is, their playing, the excellent vocal approach and their borderline professional sound—I definitely could see them with a label in the near future.  My suggestion to them would be to continue towards the blackened side of the “blackened death” label, because their best material seems to be rooted in that. The sporadic keyboards should get some more space and the blasty riffs keep a lot of the stuff here interesting and compelling.

So, the Wisconsin Metal Alliance, who I proudly support, are running a poll called the WMA awards!  You are free to go in and vote for those bands, and there’s a FAQ below.  You should do it, for sure!

Vote for the WMA Awards – showcasing the best Wisconsin Bands!

The WMA Awards consist of 20 categories related to metal music and performance, and many bands across the state have been recognized to win these awards (WMA and non-WMA bands).

Winners will be voted upon throughout the next 5 weeks, and voting is open to the public (however, you must register on the message board in order to vote). The winner and runner-up for each category will be notified after all of the votes have been tallied. There are several categories, so check out the awards and be sure to vote on others to support the Wisconsin metal community.

Voting remains open until Oct. 31st. The polls are located here: http://www.wimetal.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=88

The WMA is an online community that is dedicated to strengthening METAL throughout Wisconsin – fans, bands, and anyone else related to metal. These awards help us showcase the best in Wisconsin, and bring some new bands to areas that may not have much exposure. Be sure to vote, and while you’re at it, why not tell us about your favorite metal album, what’s going on with your band, or advertise a show you have planned (if you’re in a band).

Here’s a short FAQ on the WMA Awards:

Q: How were the bands chosen to be finalists?

A: We had everyone who posts on the WMA forums submit nominations of as many bands as they wanted for all 20 categories. Then, all of the forumites here voted and chose the top 5 in each category (where there were at least 5 nominees). That is how we arrived with these bands.

Q: Isn’t there inherently bias toward WMA bands? I mean, about half of the finalists are in the WMA.

A: We wanted to open this up to everyone, but it was a difficult process just getting it as far as it is today. The goal is to make these awards something that bands are interested in and get more people coming by here. That way, there will be a bigger pool of people submitting nominations and voting. So it’s more likely that there are many WMA bands because those are the bands most of us are familiar with. By getting more bands in here, it benefits everyone.

Q: What do bands get for winning the awards?

A: Not much, really, other than some recognition. We will also make small images to place on bands’ Myspace/websites that show the recognition of the award. We wanted to recognize the bands that stand out in the Wisconsin Metal Community.

Q: How do I vote?

A: Simply register for an account here and place your vote. It’s pretty easy. And after you’ve registered, you can make a post about your favorite band or a new album you like, or just tell us what’s going on with your band.

Q: What is the WMA trying to gain from this?

A: We want to strengthen the Wisconsin Metal Community and help bands and fans across the state connect with each other. We want to showcase the best Wisconsin has to offer, and gaining some exposure with the best bands is one way to do that.

Diemertus - To See Skies Fall (Demo/EP 2009)
Rating: 3.0/5.0 – Good demo, has room for growth and improvement
Label: Unsigned
Website: myspace.com/diemertus

Frankly, I had no idea what to expect when I was given Shorewood, Wisconsin-based Diemertus‘ EP To See Skies Fall to review.  Of the bands from Wisco that I’m familiar with, they were not among the ranks.  I’d heard a couple of tracks via MySpace but it was certainly not enough to accurately judge them.  However, I was finally given a chance to really get a good listen and feel for this band–and I was definitely impressed with the quality of this material, which I would describe as balls-to-the-wall melodic death.  There could be dissenters from this title, because they could easily be the much aligned “deathcore” as well–but they don’t seem to consider themselves that genre.

When I say “balls-to-the-wall,” I really mean it; these guys have some seriously heavy material on this record.  Rotating, very smoothly, between blasty death parts to some killer groove (particularly on the track “Seek Out the Sun,” which is my favorite on the album), every track on this album is heavy as hell. Not only that, but the guitar work is great, by which I mean that the band maintains a level of melodic content that leads to certain songs actually sticking with you–something that a lot of modern death metal bands sort of fail at.   Oh, and these dudes can play.  While the “sweeping guitar hero” trend has gotten out of hand, it is put to good use on this record with some serious wankery (in the best possible sense) peppered throughout the whole album.

However, there are some definite weaknesses on To See Skies Fall, as well.   While as a cohesive whole this EP is good, it is obvious that the band has some room for growth in their sound and technique.  Firstly, the production here is pretty muddled which leads to certain parts of the demo sounding like the band isn’t really that tight.  This particularly comes through in the slow parts, where things that are probably interestingly poly-rhythmic, just sounds totally confused.  In fact, the first 30 seconds had me worried as hell, before the ass-kickingness started, because it sounded disoriented and sloppy.  The other thing that stood out for me is that the band probably could have used a good producer in reference to some of the guitar solos, which, while impressive, sound a little bit forced in places.  Some of these things could simply be reformulated to the benefit of the band.

Stylistically, the reason I called the band the band “Deathcore” in the beginning, too, was because they sound like a good mix of bands like At The Gates, The Black Dahlia Murder (particularly the vocals), and Hypocrisy, but they also have a few too many breakdowns for my taste.  While sometimes these can be good, a couple of the breakdowns on this album kinda just made my head hurt.  Fortunately, the band doesn’t use them too often, they don’t spend too much time on them, and in the case of “Raptorz!” the breakdown also leads to one of the best groove parts on the whole album.  If you dig that style, then these guys are definitely up your alley.

Of course, these guys are up the alley of most dudes who like good melodic death metal in the end.  They would benefit from a better recording and some tightening up–but the base-level musicianship, the excellent vocal approach and the songwriting base is all there.  These guys have big potential and I expect that their next record will be even better.

I thought I should make a post in reference to a thing that I feel pretty strongly about, which is the Wisconsin Metal Alliance.  Something that always peeved me (and still does, to some extent) when I was in my old band, was that bands were very much in it for themselves and a lot of people were using those around them in order to get ahead, but never helping others out or giving them the cred that they deserved.  Frankly, I think this is shitty as metal as we know it is all about the underground, and all about the ways that we’re able to come together, have a good time and appreciate truly excellent music together.

There are a lot of different local scenes, and I’m sure that they have some great bands.  However, some bands that I think are pretty bad ass are involved in an organization called the Wisconsin Metal Alliance.  I have put a link at the top of the page to it, and I just wanted to talk about it a little bit.  First, I think it’s bad ass that bands are coming together and working together and one thing that I really dig is that the WMA is basically democratic.  It’s got a kick ass forum, where yours truly, and others of my calibre like to hang out, and BS about metal and a lot of random stuff.

But the one thing I truly dig about the WMA is the calibre of bands that exist within it.  One of our ranks, and one who has actually been in it for a long time, just got picked up by Century Media and put out a record (that I will be reviewing soon, and doing an interview with as well)–that’d be the great progressive band Luna Mortis. And others are headed in that direction, as well.  There are some really killer bands involved, and I strongly suggest that everyone go and check it out.   And that’s why I’m going to feature Wisconsin bands on here from time-to-time, because I think that there are some really great bands from Wisconsin, and there have been really great bands in the past that never got their proper time in the sun, despite their kickassatude.

Anyway, I hope that people who aren’t part of the WMA start to see the bands from this scene and they get some more attention from national labels and stuff.  Sure, it’s a pipe-dream.  But it’s a little something I can do for a group of people who spend so much time amusing me with their spamming, their arguments, and their incredibly random and irrelevent humor.  Be forwarned, there’s some Northwoods Metal heading your way.