Review Summary: a bruising trek through a desolate and discordant sludge metal soundscape
Spoils Of Failure is the sort of slow, crushing desolate monster that only Sludge fans really will enjoy – there isn't a lot of hope for fans of more accessible or melodic music. Artistically, Buried Inside create a tapestry of bleak, run down colours, the music itself being endlessly bitter and desolate in its being, and just so unrelentingly powerful that the faults that the album does have can be mostly forgotten. It's the sort of viciously heavy and discordant music that really appeals because of it's dirty raw nature. When they're at their best, Buried Inside give fans of this music what they want and more.
Carrying itself at a sometimes deviously slow pace, Spoils Of Failure's main strength is in it's consistently impressive riffs, complex and subtle song progression and bestial arrangements. There's a great mix of personal emotion and dense atmosphere in the album which definitely serves as one of the highlights of the entire album, like in the latter half of track five with it's brilliantly emotional lead and amazing vocal climax that simply pours out emotion into the atmosphere that surrounds and chokes the rest of the songs. The wondrous guitar leads are present pretty much throughout the entirety of the album, sometimes being fantastically fast and epic (II) or slow and purposeful (III), the intensity that they give the album at parts is really impressive, yet the guitars are also completely capable of slowing things down too, coupled with the constantly varied drumming and typical post-metal roar that the vocalist contributes and you have a very powerful and impressive wall of noise that constantly engages the listener.
Unfortunately, throughout the entirety of Spoils Of Failure's fifty plus minute run time, nothing much changes. Were it not for the (sometimes too) subtle build ups in volume and aggression, the record would feel like one large climax that never really develops. While the album is undoubtedly very organic and flowing, the development of certain parts seems a little lacklustre and incomplete. This contributes to the album somewhat closing into itself and not revealing many true memorable moments. Fortunately, it's saved by it's desolate atmosphere, and these problems are overcome by many more good attributes to the sound. It's a credit to the band that despite Spoils Of Failure being somewhat samey and static at times, the end product is still very powerful and destructive and has a touch of class that many bands just don't achieve. It's bleak and bitter, desolate and bruising, but there's a little something that just simply engrosses you until you are forced to love it.
