(Our old friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth returns to NCS to sing the praises of a new album by Colorado-based Buried Realm that saw release in April of this year.)
“Who the hell is Josh Dummer?”
Greetings and salutations, friends. The above question was what I asked myself upon hearing Buried Realm’s 2020 album Embodiment Of The Divine, a surprisingly polished platter of modern melodeath in the vein of Scar Symmetry and Bloodshot Dawn, two bands whose output I greatly enjoy.
Dummer is the sole member of Buried Realm, handling all songwriting, guitars, bass, and vocals, with the exception of a number of notable guests on each album (more on that in a moment). I was impressed at the level of skill present on Embodiment, to the point that it ranked as my number 7 album of 2020. 2022’s eponymous follow-up was equally impressive, with a better sound, and ranked as my number 10 album of the year in a very strong crop of albums.
Now, Dummer returns with The Dormant Darkness, and I have thoughts.
As I mentioned before, each Buried Realm album features an impressive array of guest musicians, many of whom are legends in their own rights.
Buried Realm’s debut The Ichor Carcinoma featured contributions from Brandon Ellis (Arsis, The Black Dahlia Murder), Christopher Amott (Arch Enemy), Marios Iliopoulos (Nightrage), and Peter Wichers (Soilwork). Embodiment Of The Divine featured Andy Gillion (Mors Principium Est), Ben Ellis (Bloodshot Dawn), Lee McKinney (Born Of Osiris), and Rafael Trujillo (Dååth, Obscura, Obsidious). The self-titled featured Amott, Christian Münzner (Obscura, Necrophagist), Christofer Malmström (Darkane), Bob Katsionis (Firewind), and Dan Swanö (Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath, many more).
I tell you this in part to help you understand the breadth and depth of talent that makes contributions to Dummer’s albums, but also to make it clear that Dummer absolutely holds his own with all of them. His musical skill and songcraft cannot be overstated.
As for The Dormant Darkness, the array of guests is no less impressive. Finntroll drummer Heikki Saari provides studio drums for the entire album, something he also provided on the self-titled, but Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Francesco Ferrini also contributes orchestrations and synthesizers across the entire album. Amott returns to provide a guitar solo, along with Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry), Daniel Freyberg (Children Of Bodom), and Gus G (Firewind, Nightrage, Dream Evil). Also of note are the guest vocals on four tracks from Christian Älvestam (Scar Symmetry, Miseration) and two tracks from Bjorn “Speed” Strid (Soilwork).
As before, Dummer proves himself to be an absolutely worthy musician. His higher-register screams, reminiscent of the late Alexi Laiho, mix well with Älvestam’s cleans and gutturals as well as Strid‘s roars. His riffs and leads are searing, melodic, and technical. He has a keen understanding of how to arrange his songs and use his guests to maximize their contributions.
There are spots that are a little clunky, like the vocal tradeoff between Dummer and Strid on “Human Code” or some cluttered riffs on “Futuristic Hollow Nation”. “Jaws Of The Abyss” is slower paced and focused on Älvestam‘s clean vocals, and represents a minor lull in the album. But these moments are rare and not especially detrimental to a generally fantastic album.
It’s not difficult to find Dummer’s influences, because they’re all actually playing on his albums. It’s fascinating to me to see how every Buried Realm album seems to collect big names like Thanos and the Infinity Stones, but it’s even more fascinating to realize that Dummer has proven multiple times that he deserves to be thought of with those names. If you enjoy melodeath, then you owe it to yourself to check out The Dormant Darkness, one of the year’s best melodeath releases.
https://buriedrealm.bandcamp.com/album/the-dormant-darkness
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