Album Reviews : Buried In Verona – Circle The Dead

If you haven’t already figured it out from the band name and album cover, Sydney’s Buried In Verona are your standard blend of metalcore, hardcore and melodic metal. There’s nothing new or overly exciting here, but it’s not the worst around either. Everything is as you would expect from the genre tag, from the melodic breakdowns to the mix of screaming and clean vocals. There is no deviation from the usual formula here and I’m struggling to listen to more than a couple of songs at a time without losing concentration due to boredom.

A few of the tracks on the first half of the album lean more towards commercial modern metal at times rather than the -core side of things, and while it’s no more interesting, it’s a bit more aggressive so it has something going for it. “Five Bullet Russian Roulette” is one of the heavier ones, based around a mixture of heavy chugging and speedy, modern-thrash riffs. And the humorously titled “Colonel Mustard in the Conservatory with the Lead Pipe” has a couple of (short) moments that remind me (slightly) of Children of Bodom. Plus, the Cluedo-reference is a nice touch which you don’t see often. The issue here is that these better moments are drowned in a sea of textbook crap that isn’t worth sitting through.

I suppose there’s nothing actually bad about the album. It’s a very professional sounding release that certainly doesn’t sound like a debut album. The production is crisp and crisp, which is heavy when it needs to be but also gives the music a lot of breathing room.  The vocalist is as good as most others in the genre with a more convincing, aggressive core-growl than most I’ve heard, and musically there aren’t any major faults. It’s just that, well to put it bluntly, it would make no difference if this band existed or not. That might sound rude, but they just blend into the hundreds of other metalcore bands with this exact same sound.

You might think that from reading through this I have a hatred for anything –core and I’m just writing it off because it’s a commercially popular style, but don’t take my review that way. There have been quite a few good releases this year with strong hardcore influences but the difference that those bands presented it in a more interesting way, whether that be blending it with other distinctly different styles or just putting their own slant on things. It’s when bands release an album full of ‘cut and paste’ 4-minute singles that I lose interest in.

If you like your metalcore and modern metal then buy this album and chuck it in the pile alongside the dozens of other clone albums. If you prefer something a bit more creative, something with real feeling in it, something that stands out, then look elsewhere. 4.2/10

Band: Buried In Verona
Album: Circle The Dead
Year: 2008
Genre: Metalcore
Label: Riot!
Origin: Sydney, Australia
www.myspace.com/buriedinverona

Tracklisting:
1. Five Bullet Russian Roulette <- Reviewers choice
2. All For Nothing
3. Colonel Mustard in the Conservatory with the Lead Pipe
4. Can I Borrow A Feeling?
5. Taken to the Light
6. Dirt Nap
7. Face of Mutiny
8. Circle the Dead
9. Don’t Call Me Baby
10. For Darker Days
11. No Time To Die