Tom Good
10/26/06, 01:39 PM
Bury Your Dead- Beauty And The Breakdown
Victory Records
Release Date: July 11, 2006
If you were to utter the band name “Bury Your Dead” on any messageboard on the Internet, you would be instantly greeted with one of two types of responses. The first would be from someone claiming that Bury Your Dead are incredibly talented and a breath of fresh air. The other category would say quite the opposite, with the obligatory simple comment “These guys suck”. There is little middle ground when it comes to the opinions of this band, and the sides became even more polarized when Bury Your Dead accepted a slot on the Family Values Tour alongside Korn and Stone Sour. Beauty And The Breakdown, the bands second album for Victory, isn’t going to change any opinions.
Bury Your Dead have kept in the tradition of naming their songs based around a certain theme, Beauty And The Breakdown, as you can probably tell, revolves around a fairytale premise. Even the artwork is laid out like a storybook. Once again, something that you could either love or hate (it’s better than the theme of their last album: Tom Cruise movies). The album is straight metal-core and a very safe illustration of the genre at that, with every single stereotype from mosh breakdowns to chunky, chugging guitar riffs present on every single song (save “The Enchanted Rose”, which is a short 55 second interlude). “The Poison Apple” starts out with a short keyboard intro before the whole band kicks in at full throttle with a driving guitar riff and Hatebreed style vocals. “Twelfth Stroke Of Midnight” would be any circle pit fan’s dream, with guitar, drums and bass locked into a start-stop groove sure to get a crowd moving. The album continues with the breakneck pace of “Mirror, Mirror…” which speeds up the tempo and stands out as one of the only memorable tracks on Beauty And The Breakdown. After an electronic groove midway through, the song ends with a pulsing guitar breakdown. Bury Your Dead must have named their album appropriately as it sounds like every single riff could be used as a hardcore breakdown (much like Every Time I Die’s Hot Damn!, only not quite as technical or effective). Mark Castillo’s drums are the heart of this album, sounding huge and often emulating the guitar lines of Slim and Eric Ellis. Aside from that, this album is par for the Victory hardcore course.
For every positive aspect of this album, there is a fault, the main being that Beauty And The Breakdown is ultimately forgettable. There would be points in listening to the album where I would pick out something that I thought was cool only to find that I could not remember said part for the life of me when the song was over. This wasn’t due to Mars Volta song lengths as songs average three and a half minutes, it was due to the fact that nothing was memorable or catchy enough to recall. Most guitar riffs don’t even dare to venture above the fifth fret, often sounding almost identical to the one before it. The vocals are typical Victory hardcore. No surprises here, if you are familiar with the label, then you know what to expect. If you are in love with that sound, then you may have found something in Beauty And The Breakdown. If not, don’t even bother to give this one a listen.
It’s a fairly short album, clocking in at exactly 34 minutes, and by the end of that time, I was more than ready to move onto something else. Maybe it shows a lot of creativity and variety when put within the realm of nu-metal, but sounds standard in the hardcore field. A solid, if generic, effort, Beauty And The Breakdown could be a good album if in the mood for tough guy medio-core. Despite sheer brutality (goddamn I wish my keyboard had umlauts), some standout tracks and some, dare I say, fun breakdowns, the record falls short due to redundant vocals and similar musicality. With great bands out there performing this style of music and some other hardcore bands raising the bar on the genre as a whole, it is easy for Bury Your Dead to get lost in the pack. Which brings us back to the controversy of differing views. How does this album play into the opposing arguments? It’s pretty safe to say that however you feel about Bury Your Dead, Beauty And The Breakdown won’t change your opinion.
Purevolume- http://www.purevolume.com/buryyourdead
Myspace- http://www.myspace.com/buryyourdead
Tracklisting
1. House Of Straw
2. A Glass Slipper
3. The Poison Apple
4. Twelfth Stroke Of Midnight
5. Trail Of Crumbs
6. A Wishing Well
7. Let Down Your Hair
8. Mirror, Mirror…
9. Second Star To The Right
10. The Enchanted Rose
11. House Of Brick
Victory Records
Release Date: July 11, 2006
If you were to utter the band name “Bury Your Dead” on any messageboard on the Internet, you would be instantly greeted with one of two types of responses. The first would be from someone claiming that Bury Your Dead are incredibly talented and a breath of fresh air. The other category would say quite the opposite, with the obligatory simple comment “These guys suck”. There is little middle ground when it comes to the opinions of this band, and the sides became even more polarized when Bury Your Dead accepted a slot on the Family Values Tour alongside Korn and Stone Sour. Beauty And The Breakdown, the bands second album for Victory, isn’t going to change any opinions.
Bury Your Dead have kept in the tradition of naming their songs based around a certain theme, Beauty And The Breakdown, as you can probably tell, revolves around a fairytale premise. Even the artwork is laid out like a storybook. Once again, something that you could either love or hate (it’s better than the theme of their last album: Tom Cruise movies). The album is straight metal-core and a very safe illustration of the genre at that, with every single stereotype from mosh breakdowns to chunky, chugging guitar riffs present on every single song (save “The Enchanted Rose”, which is a short 55 second interlude). “The Poison Apple” starts out with a short keyboard intro before the whole band kicks in at full throttle with a driving guitar riff and Hatebreed style vocals. “Twelfth Stroke Of Midnight” would be any circle pit fan’s dream, with guitar, drums and bass locked into a start-stop groove sure to get a crowd moving. The album continues with the breakneck pace of “Mirror, Mirror…” which speeds up the tempo and stands out as one of the only memorable tracks on Beauty And The Breakdown. After an electronic groove midway through, the song ends with a pulsing guitar breakdown. Bury Your Dead must have named their album appropriately as it sounds like every single riff could be used as a hardcore breakdown (much like Every Time I Die’s Hot Damn!, only not quite as technical or effective). Mark Castillo’s drums are the heart of this album, sounding huge and often emulating the guitar lines of Slim and Eric Ellis. Aside from that, this album is par for the Victory hardcore course.
For every positive aspect of this album, there is a fault, the main being that Beauty And The Breakdown is ultimately forgettable. There would be points in listening to the album where I would pick out something that I thought was cool only to find that I could not remember said part for the life of me when the song was over. This wasn’t due to Mars Volta song lengths as songs average three and a half minutes, it was due to the fact that nothing was memorable or catchy enough to recall. Most guitar riffs don’t even dare to venture above the fifth fret, often sounding almost identical to the one before it. The vocals are typical Victory hardcore. No surprises here, if you are familiar with the label, then you know what to expect. If you are in love with that sound, then you may have found something in Beauty And The Breakdown. If not, don’t even bother to give this one a listen.
It’s a fairly short album, clocking in at exactly 34 minutes, and by the end of that time, I was more than ready to move onto something else. Maybe it shows a lot of creativity and variety when put within the realm of nu-metal, but sounds standard in the hardcore field. A solid, if generic, effort, Beauty And The Breakdown could be a good album if in the mood for tough guy medio-core. Despite sheer brutality (goddamn I wish my keyboard had umlauts), some standout tracks and some, dare I say, fun breakdowns, the record falls short due to redundant vocals and similar musicality. With great bands out there performing this style of music and some other hardcore bands raising the bar on the genre as a whole, it is easy for Bury Your Dead to get lost in the pack. Which brings us back to the controversy of differing views. How does this album play into the opposing arguments? It’s pretty safe to say that however you feel about Bury Your Dead, Beauty And The Breakdown won’t change your opinion.
Purevolume- http://www.purevolume.com/buryyourdead
Myspace- http://www.myspace.com/buryyourdead
Tracklisting
1. House Of Straw
2. A Glass Slipper
3. The Poison Apple
4. Twelfth Stroke Of Midnight
5. Trail Of Crumbs
6. A Wishing Well
7. Let Down Your Hair
8. Mirror, Mirror…
9. Second Star To The Right
10. The Enchanted Rose
11. House Of Brick