BURDEN OF GRIEF - On Darker Trails

9 songs
39:13 minutes
***** ***
Massacre

Black winged skeleton standing in front of an old castle... I think we’re in for some death metal music. Yes, metal bands really love their clichés, and the German band Burden Of Grief doesn’t make an exception. But apart from that, nearly everything is great with their second album. Let’s start first with the excellent production by Andy Classen. The sound is so heavy that even people who are not so much into metal anymore can’t miss the unrestrained raw energy on this record. The songs themselves are also very powerful : Burden Of Grief are combining the low-tuned sound of death metal with the brutality of thrash, and add some fine melodies that make them sound neither old fashioned nor too modern. It’s just perfect death thrash, and I would have been tempted to give this album a really, really high rating, but there’s two little things I need to point out : 1. If you don’t keep count on the intro, a short instrumental and the cover version, there’s only six own songs left that don’t even add up to half an hour ; 2. The cover version of Metallica’s Master Of Puppets might be rather nice, but compared to the original, it’s not really that good. In fact Burden Of Grief are best when they play their own fast, brutal and yet melodic stuff. Still I give this album 8 points, because what you get to hear is possibly the best death thrash you can get these days, not only in Germany, but worldwide.