Burst "Prey on Life" CD
[Relapse]
Hmmm, this is quite different from their last EP, which totally blew me out of the water immediately. It's certainly not as immediately amazing, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, least of all here. There's a lot going on, even more so than was the case with their past efforts, but you really have to listen closely to grasp as much as you can... I'm not even sure it's possible to grasp everything (again, not a bad thing). I guess you could say that the big picture in regards to "Prey on Life" sounds more like Neurosis at their peak (sans the industrial elements), especially vocally and in some of the thicker plodding rhythms - but in a way that only a Swedish band could come up with. They've gotten subtler in their technicality, employing lots of layering of guitar parts and such. There are still some dissonant chords and hefty speeds that are reminiscent of the more creative side of black metal, as well as frantic blasts and caustic riffs that have a grinding edge, or a few melodic technical metal runs and awesome acoustic riffs, to mention but a few nuances... but the bulk of the record is midpaced and centered around rhythm and dynamic shifts, adding in the other bits and pieces to accentuate those dynamics and spice things up a bit. "Rain" is just an absolute masterpiece, coming off somewhat like a combination of early Neurosis and Opeth circa "Morningrise", if you can imagine such a thing. "Fourth Sun" is a nice instrumental with lush levels of calm acoustic guitars reprising a variation on the main riff from opener "Undoing (Prey on Life)" over what sounds like a programmed percussion loop sampled from live drums (this riff reappears in barely recognizable form once more to close the disc during the far more twisted and experimental "Epidemic"). Then "Crystal Asunder" brings in lots of hammer-on/pull-off riffs and gets more involved as far as time signatures and changes and such, also introducing some excellently bleak singing vocals into the already amazingly diverse range of influences exposed herein. I wouldn't touch the recording. They've managed to get everything ultra thick and natural with enough clarity to allow the details to show through (especially in headphones), and the textures of the tones work without anything becoming overpowering. The bass adds a lot of low-end density and has enough oomph to break through the massive walls of guitars, the percussion holds everything in place, and the vocals are in there with the guitars. No complaints from me. The layout looks pretty slick, using a very strict color palette with lots of abstract photos working more as texture than actual imagery, and a good deal of metallic gold ink. I fucking love the lyrics this time out, as everything is rather bleak and does express a message, but the approach is very cryptic and open: "All that eyes can conceive, Your wanton indifference derides, Decisions weren't hard to deceive, How we fooled ourselves when it died, Searching for a new pace to hide, Afar from your vile, naïve complacency, Burning, Scathing, in nausea confide, Mocked in sudden ecstasy..." Superb. I have to admit that I don't enjoy this quite as much as "In Coveting Ways", but that's just because I tend to be a big fan of that immediacy. I certainly can't name any particular faults with this record at all, I think it's a highly intelligent and interesting piece of work. In many respects it feels like a bit of a transition, so I expect that forthcoming recordings from Burst could very well reach an entirely new level of mastery. Highly recommended. (8/10)
Running time - 40:45, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Iris, Rain, Crystal Asunder, Vortex]
Burst - http://www.burst.nu

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