Bury Tomorrow

Runes

Written by: PP on 29/06/2014 00:36:28

I've been predicting the death of metalcore for years now, yet the genre keeps steaming ahead and producing new releases like none other. Still, it's a worrying sign to listen to the third album "Runes" by Bury Tomorrow and think that it sounds rather dated. This is the new generation of metalcore, after all, and one of the most critically acclaimed and innovative bands the genre has seen for a while. It's enough to make my faith in metalcore's ability to produce one more incredible album waver in earthquake-like fashion, because if Bury Tomorrow can't do it, how much more is there to do to rescue the genre?

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. "Runes" is in itself a solid album in the genre. The guitars are technical, and the songwriting dynamically oriented so unnecessary breakdowns are avoided and the focus is instead in the flow of the song. Technical passages ensure plenty of sweet licks for the ear from the guitar department, and then there's of course Jason Cameron, whose clean vocals are sublime in pretty much every song. His work during the chorus of "The Torch" is simply infectious, and especially the second half of the album starting from "Year Of The Harvest" is simply brilliant when it comes to clean vocal melodies on a metalcore album.

My problem is mostly with lead vocalist Daniel Winter-Bats. While technically proficient, his growling style is simply far too generic to appreciate across a full album. It's too monotonous and unvaried to keep the listener interested, so instead we are kept waiting for Cameron's inevitable clean chorus to come in and rescue the song time after time. Perhaps the best example is on highlight track "Garden Of Thorns", which features totally anonymous growling sections that ironically enough make Cameron's clean vocal section shine more so than on other tracks on the album. And herein lies the argument that the growls are used as a contrasting tool. That would be fair enough if they were truly designed with that in mind, but the lack of variety suggests they are not. That is an issue that Bury Tomorrow seriously need to investigate if they are to step to the next level where you'll find bands like Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive, and As I Lay Dying.

That being said, the criticism regarding "Runes" above might be a little too harsh. It's a fine metalcore album that, had it been released back in 2007, would be all the rage and warrant headlining slots at metalcore-friendly festivals. It's just hard to see Bury Tomorrow growing with this album in 2014, which is sad, because the craftsmanship is of very high quality in all departments but the growls / screams.

7

Download: Garden Of Thorns; Shadow, A Creator; The Torch; Year Of The Harvest;
For the fans of: As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, Alexisonfire, Parkway Drive
Listen: Facebook

Release date 26.05.2014
Nuclear Blast

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