Review Summary: "From Birth to Burial" shows that 10 Years remain as consistent as ever, but something is missing.
10 Years is a band that knew how to create beauty out of music. Their creativity wasn’t always about how well they could play their music, but in their lyrics, vocals, and their ability to create an atmospheric yet raw sound. Their major label debut (third album overall)
The Autumn Effect showed their talent in the most effective way possible, as it delivered a passionate beauty through the aforementioned attributes, which is something that very few in the alternative metal genre ever accomplish successfully. However, album after album, even though they still remain consistent in their music, it seems as though 10 Years are slowly starting to lose what made them so good in the first place.
Living up to the impression left by
The Autumn Effect proved challenging, as 10 Years' follow-ups,
Feeding the Wolves and
Minus the Machine, yielded mixed results. This left many wondering where 10 Years would go next. Now by all means,
From Birth to Burial isn’t a bad album; in fact it’s a pretty damn good one. But here lies the problem; it feels as if 10 Years are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
While
From Birth to Burial generally continues from where
Minus the Machine left off sound-wise, the album also attempts to combine the different styles from their previous albums. Songs like the title track and ‘Triggers and Tripwires’ make do with the nu-metal ideas in
Feeding the Wolves while others like ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Ashes’ deliver the atmospheric qualities seen in
The Autumn Effect. It’s not a bad idea; at best it works beautifully. ‘Survivors?’ manages to capture the beautiful essence of
The Autumn Effect incredibly well, making it the best song off the record, while ‘The River’ delivers the best instrumental work as well as quality lyrics. At worst however, it feels generic and uninspired. The execution on the guitar work, drumming, and even the vocal performance lacks on songs like ‘Selling Skeletons’ and ‘Luna’. It’s not so much that they’re bad songs; it’s that they blend within the rest of the album and end up being rather forgettable.
However the one thing that 10 Years haven’t forgotten is how to end their albums on a wonderfully high note. The flow between ‘Miscellanea’ and ‘Moisture Residue’ is perfectly consistent and both songs capture your attention in unexpected ways. While ‘Miscellanea’ may not be the strongest song off the album overall, it flows better than most of the heavier tracks on the album. ‘Moisture Residue’, meanwhile, is the most unique track in the album, with its piano beautifully setting its tone while Jesse Hasek’s vocals carry the song perfectly. If anything, ‘Moisture Residue’ is most likely the best closer that 10 Years has ever conceived.
From Birth To Burial isn’t anything remarkable for both the band and the genre as a whole, but it still manages to become a solid album. It’s not as if 10 Years are going through “Nickelback syndrome” or anything like that (at least not yet), it’s just a question of what exactly 10 Years want to do. Maybe they’ll find a way to deliver a more interesting sound this time and pull out of the depths of wallowing in their own sound. I certainly don’t want them to see them drown in it.
