Live Burial rages for ten years.
Formed in 2012 in England, the band consisting of Jamie Brown (vocals, Rat Faced Bastard, ex-Plague Rider), Lee Anderson (bass, Plague Rider), Matt Henderson (drums, Rat Faced Bastard, Plague Rider), Rob Hindmarsh (guitar, Rat Faced Bastard, Nemorous, ex-Plague Rider) and Jake Bielby (guitar, Plague Rider, Dybbuk) announced the release of Curse of the Forlorn, their third album, in 2022 on Transcending Obscurity Records.
The band received help from Dan Rochester (Vacivus, Cruciamentum) and Alexandra Durning (Hesper Payne, Nemorous).
The album starts with Despair of the Lost Self and its melodic introduction which quickly guides us to a massive Old School rhythmic sound. The grimy sound fits perfectly with this rhythmic’s catchy aggressiveness topped by cavernous screams, heady tortured leads and blackness, just like on The Ordeal of Purification and its devastating blast. Riffs also know how to slow down to reveal more disturbing tones by leaving a more important place to vocals between the sharp leads, then the band allows us a short moment of respite with My Head as Tribute and its disturbing introduction. The vocalist doesn’t take long to join musicians, then the track accelerates to become more massive, welcoming at the same time dark melodies in this wave of violence which drives us straight to Exhumation and Execution, a raw and straightforward composition. The ominous atmosphere is perfectly preserved, as well as the guitars and blast’s aggressiveness until the last moment, but the nothingness will eventually silence the sound before Blood and Copper revives it with soaring harmonics. The raw and soiled aspect will not take long to resurface with jerky riffs and dirty vocals, but also bursts of devastating energy which contrast with the more airy parts. The band will not fail to keep this greasy and aggressive sound with Sepulchre of Collapsed Kingdoms, an extremely effective track which easily competes with the big names of the genre, then the album ends with the very long This Prison I Call Flesh and its Death/Doom influences introduced by an enchanting and melancholic melody. The Old School Death roots are of course not forgotten, and the band will take advantage of it to give from time to time this fix of aggressiveness to their grimy sound before the mysterious final.
With Curse of the Forlorn, Live Burial confirms its commitment to a greasy and cavernous Old School Death Metal style. If some airy melodies slip from time to time into the rhythmic, the sound remains almost permanently massive and aggressive.
90/100
