E.P. Review: Under The Church – Total Burial
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Its time to see a band roar back into life. Under The Church are a unique collaboration between Swedish and Icelandic musicians who came together to produce some Swedish death metal with some particular bite behind it. Formed back in 2012 they released their first Demo a year later followed suit by their self-titled E.P. in 2014. Cut to 2015 and the band release their first full length album titled Rabid Armageddon, an album that really brought some attention over to what Under The Church could promise for the future. 2017 saw the band’s busiest year: releasing a Split, a Live Album as well as their sophomore album Supernatural Punishment to great acclaim. So here we have a unique scenario, whereby we’ve got a band’s first major release in nearly five years. This should prove to be very interesting as not only is it my first exposure to what Under The Church are all about, but its also the band’s first released material in several years. Time to see whether longtime fans of Under The Church will come away satisfied or let down.
The production that’s been applied to this E.P. is interesting as the band seem to have struck a pretty good balance between having a ripping and impacting riff delivery with a soundscape that doesn’t try to hold down the band’s sound too much. As you listen, whether right from the start or eventually in a later track, you’ll soon realise how the band actually allow their sound some room to move around in. The band are not chaining down their sound or giving it a moderate injection of Bass, as they continue to play you’ll pick up on the freedom the riffs have been given and how they’ve been applied this sensibility of a raw and visceral nature where nothing has been done that would take away the eviscerating and shredding tone of the band’s performance.
Carrying on somewhat from our point regarding the production, eyebrows may be raised when it comes to the guitar tone. Being the force of Swedish death metal that Under The Church represent dearly, it comes as no surprise to find they’ve happily utilised a buzzsaw tone for their performance here. Yet, the style of buzzsaw tone can differ from band to band and in this case, Under The Church tweak their variation of buzzsaw playing by giving it a rather naked tonality. It’s like listening to the band play riffs through a scratching or lacerated guitar amp where what would be a conventionally straight and ripping sound has been given a molested, sandpaper texture to its performance which in turn has provided us with the very dry-sounding delivery. The riffs here really do feel like something has sucked all the moisture out of the E.P. and therefore we experience something that sounds barren, coarse but never without strength. It certainly feels like a buzzsaw guitar performance that’s been stripped away all the while still firmly implemented within an E.P. production standard with all the niceties that come along with it.
The actual songwriting itself isn’t anything that you won’t have heard before from Swedish death metal, at least the variation that Under The Church give us however from what this E.P. demonstrates they really didn’t have to. Through a fusion of simple songwriting, vocals and the raw guitar tone the band have managed to construct a soundscape that you can’t help but be hurled along with even when you know the tracks aren’t overly long and the songwriting isn’t going to do anything you haven’t heard before. Sometimes by keeping things a little simpler, bands can benefit more than when they try to inject more complex ideas and techniques and that is certainly the case for Under The Church. By the time you’ve reached that halfway mark in the E.P. you will have already grown accustomed to the band’s style of down to earth songwriting and track structure, which is all the more impressive seeing how this E.P. is done with in less than 15 minutes. That’s pretty good going for them and especially considering how tracks only run for about three minutes long each time, so they don’t give themselves time to potentially develop them somewhat. They get in and then get out which maximises chances of leaving their audiences with a striking but inviting performance to remember them by.
In conclusion, this is an E.P. with a strangely warming and endearing quality to it. Compared with other works of Swedish death metal that I’ve seen implement the buzzsaw tone, Under The Church could be deemed as being pretty simple and straightforward with a lack of experimentation in their songwriting. But honestly, it’s that absence in differentiation on the whole that oddly makes this E.P. as absorbing and entertaining as it is. By keeping things straightforward and by the numbers the band have actually crafted a better soundscape and performance than other bigger and more adventurous bands may try to be in regards to the buzzsaw sound. It’s as rudimentary as Swedish extreme metal will get this year but, it’s precisely because of that sonic simplicity that has rendered Total Burial as the enthralling and strong E.P. that it is. There are times when, sometimes, keeping things simple and doing what fans expect you to do is exactly what you should do from time to time. In this instance, Under The Church excel greatly with this E.P. and at just over a quarter of an hour long the potential for repeated listens is here in droves. A great listen for sure.
