Band : Burning Skies

Album title : Greed.Filth.Abuse.Corruption

Label : Lifeforce

Distributor : Suburban

Release date : 24/03/2008

Release : CD

If anyone ever checks up on the amount of albums I review end up in my year-lists (and in several genres at that), I suppose they might easily get the idea that I am not a very critical kinda guy. The truth of the matter is, that since I àm somewhat eclectic in the music I listen to a broad array of things (and believe me, things go fàr beyond the stuff I get to review on this here website!), which doés make me more open-minded than collegues in music journalism which concentrate on a specific genre (or even sub-genre), are therefore somewhat submerged in that, and become more (negatively) critical than is really good for the survival of their beloved genre. You cannot "blame" my open-mindedness to the possibility of me being deprived of a certain amount of music either, because I dó review between 30 and 60 albums per month (giving each at least 3 listening sessions – even more for the better records among 'em, of course) for the website, and then occasionally still seem to find time to listen to some of the things I've bought at the second-hand store (I'm afraid that over the past 7 years – since I've been active with this website - I've collected a cràzy backlog of some 2500 items which still need my undivided attention some time in the future though...and all the while I kéép buying new stuff to make the heep even bigger). Which has little to do with Bristol based Burning Skies , except that their new album is gonna end up on my year-lists as well (ànd I'll be goin' out to get me their previous releases as well, I'm afraid, thus again adding to aforementioned heep). I'd read really good things about this SouthWestern England Deathcore band, so when the occasion arose to do this review, I gladly volunteered.

Formed in 2002 by former Foothold members Liam Phelan (guitar & vocals), Andrew " Andie " George (bass) and Stu McKay (drums) and joining with lead singer Merv Hembrough and guitarist/ vocalist Ben Akers towards the end of the year, the quintet recorded a 5-track demo entitled A Premonition Of Things To Come in January 2003, which got 'em their deal with Lifeforce . A first result of that collaboration came with the August 2004 release of debut album Murder By Means Of Existence ., a release which improved the band's profile considerably, and their peculiar blend of Death Metal and Heavy Hardcore/ US Metalcore with extra touches of Thrash and Grindcore was well received by both the majority of press and fans of the US Metalcore genre which was already at that time gaining global popularity. The album was promoted by a European Summer tour with A Traitor Like Judas . In 2005 a first line-up change occured when Phil Tolfree took over the drum stool. October 2006's Desolation reinforced the band's position in the more brutal Metal genre even more. Guitarist Ben still played the gigs on the British headline tour (with Shaped By Fate as support) in late Nov./ early Dec. 2006, but then opted out. They were to tour Europe (no Belgian gig that time around - that would come through an appearance at the Maximum HC Fest in Mons on March 31 st ) with Misery Index , Necrophagist and Coldworked starting February 2007, but the latter was eventually replaced by Origin . As far as I can assertain, one Neil Fouracre then stood in on second guitar...at least temporarily, because later in the year yet another line-up change would occur when Chuck Creese took over second guitar duties, and Stephen Ives took over bass playing chores. I guess the change came during April, because the band put in no live appearance whatsoever during that month, only returning on May 12 for a gig in their hometown, then following it up with a UK tour with Akercocke , Cephalic Carnage nd Ted Maul throughout the rest of the month. Then again, it might just as well have happened during June or July, because they only played one gig each month. August saw the band back in the reigns for a short UK tour with War From A Harlots Mouth and Fei Comodo . Following a gig (with Send More Paramedics ) in their hometown the band is met with hypocritic backstabbing and called racists...because singer Merv had commented about lots of people getting mugged in their city and how that infuriated him, following that up with details of one such mugging which involved – in his own words – a black and a white kid muggin' someone he knew (check out the blogs at myspace.com/burningskies).

The Fall saw the band retreaving to their rehearsal room to compose the songs needed for a follow-up to their 2 nd album, which was recorded at Germany's Rape Of Harmonies studio in Triptis (somewhere between Bayreuth and Leipzig, and not too far from Czech Republic) during December, and apparently the guys were freezing their asses off. Which probably helped in making an even better album than the guys ever made before. As mentioned in the bio that came with the promo, "...everything is faster and harder than anything the guys have written before, so do not be surprised if you suffer from "Exploding Head Syndrome". If you can handle Carcass , Napalm Death , Misery Index , The Black Dahlia Murder and The Red Chord then you will definitely be into Burning Skies as well! Greed.Filth.Abuse.Corruption marks the first essential extreme release in 2008!".

Well, I don't know about that last sentence, expect of course in the case that label relates to itself when making that statement. But what Burning Skies brings on this album certainly IS incredibly heavy and brutal, with vocals varying from Grind-styles growls to more "civilized" growlings, over more Hardcore/ Metalcore styled ones to eerie Blackened styled screams to boot. Drums simply sound like machine-generated, but are truly 100% live! What makes the band stand out, is the fact that they can perform their ultra-brutal music with such proliferance that it still comes over catchy-as-hell! A couple (that's literal) of tracks also contain movie samples, and I think it's simply hilarious that they used a bit from a Bugs Bunny comic. The other sound sample is less funny, but then the band states that they have a somewhat sick sense of humour, so that's how we'll be taking that in! Check out how the band sounds by surfing to their Myspace (only the one track off their current album, I'm afraid, but you can find another one at the label's website – a link is available in one of the last blogs). Besides the audio files there's also a couple of videos (one's a "Making of" with footage from the studio, which you might find interesting) for you to view.

Hum, I already betrayed my end conclusion, and I'll only add that I am ordering the band's earlier albums on my next stop at the record store (because, you see, I AM that crazy music-loving person who stands by his word when it concerns telling people out there that this or that album/ band needs to be in their collection...and one only needs to come and see in my own rediculously large "library" to see I ain't lyin'). At this very moment the band is concluding a European (mainly Germany with additional gigs in Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia) pre-release tour with War From A Harlots Mouth (apparently their first stint together last year went nicely), and at the moment not too many gigs beyond that have been confirmed yet (a couple of UK gigs in April, a gig in Denmark supporting Hatesphere in May, and a short UK tour with Dying Fetus , Anterior , and Trigger The Bloodshed in June – for details check out burningskies.co.uk).

98/100

Tony.