AN NCS PREMIERE: BURIAL — “HALLS OF THE FORMLESS UNRAVELER”

Sep 202021

The doom-shrouded Italian death metal band Burial at last bring us a debut album, one that builds upon a legacy created by a pair of demos, an EP, and last year’s full-length compilation, The Aeons of Horror. It commanded the attention of Everlasting Spew Records, who will release it on October 29th — graced by the ghastly cover art of maestro Paolo Girardi — and they recommend it for fans of Spectral Voice, Mortiferum, Krypts, and dISEMBOWELMENT.

Those references are good clues to what the album provides. Entitled Inner Gateways To The Slumbering Equilibrium At The Center Of Cosmos, it’s a powerful demonstration of the band’s horrifying capabilities. But the first song premiere we’re presenting from the album today is an even more eye-opening and jaw-dropping demonstration of their multifarious malevolence. The track’s name is “Halls Of The Formless Unraveler“.

With a gruesome roar the song surges in a storm of blistering drums, and maniacal, mind-mangling riffage that feeds on the mind with a chainsawing tone and a dense, swarming impact. Just as suddenly, the frenzy vanishes, replaced by dismal, groaning chords, ponderous beats, and mysterious glinting notes. When the vicious assault resumes, haughty and harrowing growls issue imperious proclamations as the guitars dart and swirl. Melodious notes slowly ring, creating a stirring contrast with the light-speed percussion and the mauling riffage.

The pacing of the song is dynamic throughout. In the slower movements, crushing hopelessness reigns, especially when the lead guitar eerily quivers and chimes in misery. In the paroxysms of speed, a feeling of demented violence comes through. Those cavernous, echoing vocals add to the music’s atmosphere of horror and degradation, and the melodic accents add a chilling aura of the supernatural. And thus the song is both hideous and haunting, assaulting and anguished, unearthly and oppressive. It has the capacity to hypnotize, and to create harrowing emotional disturbances.