Review Summary: Belie My Burial combines the brutality of Despised Icon with the progressive tendencies of Misery Signals, then throws in some djent, tech-death, and hardcore punk for a surprisingly thoughtful, genre-bending, and complex album.
Belie My Burial is a four-piece deathcore band from Pittsburgh, formed in 2005. "Pale Beyond" was released on March 5, 2012, rather under the radar. The first thing I really noticed about the group was its similarity to Montreal natives Despised Icon, taking a grindcore approach to deathcore. Heck, even Wyatt Sheer's vocal approach is similar to Despised Icon's Alexandre Erian.
Each song on the album is unique and as a whole they show a transition within the album. The first half shows an "in your face" brutal side, relying more on heavy and spiraling riffs, whereas the latter half shows an almost hardcore and often djenty approach (disregarding closers "Timewaster" and "Salo"), both halves relying upon the melodic riffing. Beginning with "An Abstraction," we're introduced to the proggy and yet heavy whirlwind of guitars and complex rhythms, taking cues from technical death metal and grindcore. I was surprised to see that the group only has one guitarist, Adam Wells, whose multiple tones and notes are being thrown around as sweeps and tremolos dominate chord progressions. Breakdowns are used, but only sparingly, as it wears quickly down ("Warsaw") and underwhelms in light of the grindcore-inspired riffs used.
The major turning point of the album occurs between the two tracks "Permanence" and "Folterkammer," the former being much more traditional as the first half, whereas the latter begins much as the first half had, but instead of morphing into the deathcore riffs, the song picks up and relies upon gang vocals and a punk-like speed, showing a different side of Belie My Burial. "Warsaw," easily the weakest song on the album, continues the trend, but it sounds uninspired compared to the previous track, as also the breakdown serves to tire. Thankfully, "Amaranthine" picks up the pace and passion, creating a beautiful beatdown of a track, utilizing djent and more melodic plucking. The strange progression, however, is due to the vocal sample at the end of the track, as it can be seen as strange and out of place. "The World Infernal" continues upon the melodic side, and creates potentially the most beautiful chord progression of the album, again bringing Misery Signals to mind. The final tracks, "Timewaster" and "Salo," hearken back to the former way of the first half, being more grindcore influenced with dizzying tone-bending technicality. One last hurrah of the album's complexity comes out of "Salo", in which a symphonic synth plays over a breakdown.
The lyrics of Belie My Burial are surprisingly poetic and contain vast amounts of imagery, mostly about death and the afterlife. The album's title shows the concept, as the album shows the narrator dying, then seeing the afterlife, a cold and desolate place, as he reflects upon the horrors that humanity has committed. It's a very intriguing concept, and not something one would usually see in a deathcore group. Wyatt Sheer conveys these lyrics in heartfelt shout, exhibiting passion and desperation, as a sort of combination of one of aforementioned Despised Icon's vocalists and Molotov Solution's Nick Arthur. At first listen, Sheer's roars are powerful but unfortunately his voice loses impact over an extended listen, as he maneuvers basically between a mid-low shout to a lower shout bordering a growl. The vocal capacity isn't bad by any means, but as Alexandre Efrian's shouts in Despised Icon exhibit as well, a more versatile range can do you good.
Another issue among the album, although not a terrible issue, is the consistency among tracks, in particular the first half. The songs flow together, due to their extremely fast and heavy nature, and therefore it is difficult to tell these tracks apart. Another issue, although this is a constant issue in most metal bands, is the lack of bass guitar. Since this CD has tech-death influences, there is a gap left behind where a noodling bass could be, and therefore there is somewhat a lack there. But, as aforementioned, bass guitars are often put to the background.
Overall, Belie My Burial put forth an incredibly solid album, creating a vast mix of influences and sounds, and creating a unique concept and lyrical output. I recommend this album heartily to any deathcore fans and to even djent-lovers or progheads.
