The Burning Season "The Haze of Infatuation" CD
[Hand of Hope]
Straight up metalcore from an American band playing in slightly more of a European style. It's nothing really new or exciting, but it's not bad. Take a foundation of chunky chord progressions and aggressive note-based riffing, midpaced tempos, screaming vocals, some nice clean passages, etc. Then add in a little bit of an emphatic melodic edge that gives the songs more of a bite. This is a very competent record, and the band does display some impressive melodic chord phrasings and such that are right up my alley, but unfortunately the chief setback on this one is uninteresting songwriting. As mentioned some of those melodic elements are excellent, but all of the songs are pretty much the same general tempo, and the more typical chugga chords are quite bland to me. "Pick Up the Pieces" throws in some brief singing vocals and is a little more openly melodic through and through, which is fine and all, but it still comes across as somewhat tired with that same midpaced tempo, typical breakdowns, etc. "Losing My Voice" opens with beautiful acoustic guitars and brings in some harmonics, strings, and piano later for an excellent instrumental composition that outshines everything else on the disc to an immeasurable degree. Seriously, mellow or not, this song is fucking great and totally kills the rest of the disc in overall atmosphere and feeling. Why not implement that style of writing elsewhere!? Of the heavy tracks "First Glance" is light years ahead of the others as well, achieving an energetic and catchy chorus without any of the generic trappings employed elsewhere, and balancing the dynamics with a lengthy clean passage to boot. They've got a pretty solid sound happening as well, which is nice. Everything is loud and crisp with a clear mix that balances the elements well. A little more bass would be nice to fill the small gaps, but the guitars are pretty crispy and that makes the dissonant chords come across very well. The drums are of course a little taut, which can be distracting, but the guitars are so loud that it makes little significant difference. The layout looks decent with a consistent and very green color scheme using some strange mummified looking figures and decorative layers of floral patterns and such. The lyrics don't do much for me though, as they kind of deal with your usual personal hardships and at times carry a christian message through overly metaphorical lines and overdramatic phrases such as "dark ascends in silence" and "a brush stroke in the picture"... I just don't get into that stuff. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because the recording and performances are tight and I like some of these riffs, but they'll need to retool their songwriting to focus on their more creative side to really catch my attention. "Losing My Voice" and "First Glance" are definitely on the road this band should be traveling... (6/10)
Running time - 31:26, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Losing My Voice, First Glance]
Hand of Hope Records - http://www.handofhoperecords.com

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