Album Review: Burial - Satanic Upheaval
Reviewed by Paul Hutchings
Manchester based Burial celebrate their 15th anniversary with album number three, their bleak, goat worshipping black metal exploring the band’s take on occult themes through their misanthropic lens on the world. Freshly signed to Apocalyptic Witchcraft, Satanic Upheaval was recorded by Chris Taylor at Noiseboy Studios and mastered by at Foel Studios by Chris Fielding (Conan, Electric Wizard, Primordial, Winterfylleth). If you are unfamiliar with Burial, then maybe now is the time to get acquainted, especially if you enjoy old school, style bleakness. Rasping, grating vocals, savage repetitive riffing and thundering blast beats come as standard.
‘Satanic Upheaval’ is much as you’d expect. Ample frenetic tremolo riffing, with the occasional variation in style as the album expands. ‘Encircled By Wolves’ and ‘Void of Decay’ start the album with a ferocious pace that rarely slows. There is a slight variation within the slower but punishing ‘Hellish Reaping Screams’ and a malevolent atmosphere that underpins the explosive track’ Beneath the Filth’. Derek Carley’s (Also in Foetal Juice, Wolfbastard) harrowing roars haunt, switching between a death metal guttural growl and the traditional black metal shriek, something that is noticeable throughout the album as the band vary their sound on occasion to traverse genres. ‘Devour Your Soul’ is a solid example, the schizophrenic changes in power, vocal delivery and riffage noticeably a brutal fusion of genres. Dave Buchanan’s powerhouse drumming is a constant battery. Richard Barraclough’s guitar work focuses on the shimmering repetition, which is standard approach, tacking centre stage on the longest track on the album, the powerful ‘Destruction Absolute’.
As with much of black metal, the challenge is to deliver something that interests and excites. There are certainly flashes of that across Satanic Upheaval, such as the blistering pace on ‘Decayed By Time’ which intersperses 100mph pace with the occasional breakdown and pause. Burial keep things short, many tracks around the four-minute mark, and this helps with the intensity and drive. The musicianship is tight, the band interlocked throughout. One can’t help feeling that a bit more variation would have helped stimulate the listening experience, such as ‘Barren Lands’ with its changes of speed and feeling welcome. Closing with the devastatingly demonic title track and final song, the emotion drenched ‘Cursed By The Light’, Burial have delivered a solid if unremarkable black metal album. Plenty to enjoy and a little more light to balance the crushing darkness would probably have made it a more enjoyable listen.
'Satanic Upheaval' is released on 8th May by Apocalyptic Witchcraft
