BURN IN SILENCE

www.burninsilence.tv

 

Angel Maker

Prosthetic Records (2006)

www.prostheticrecords.com

by Sully Payton

 

Okay Prosthetic Records, game over. I'm onto your little joke. I'm old enough to remember the days when Roadrunner Records tried to sell us metalheads on the fact that Brujeria were really a bunch of Mexican thugs living in a hidden mountain lair. Do you really think I'm going to fall for the fact that Burn In Silence's Angel Maker (Prosthetic Records) is a debut full- length from a bunch of young lads from Massachusetts? C'mon, you know this is really an experienced band of Swedes or Norwegians who have been playing together for 10 years. For some odd reason, they decided to cross the Pond to kill some brain cells in Western Mass for awhile and gig under a moniker like Immortal Emperor of Borkaglfarorgoroth. That name was too long so they shortened it to Burn In Silence. I figured it out...right?

The joke is on anyone who underestimates the power of Angel Maker, a CD that has clearly flown under the radar since it's release last summer. This album is the perfect blend of Gothenburg riff magic, keyboard wizardry and blackness and Western Mass-style metalcore. Burn In Silence deftly manage to steer clear of the idol worship that plagues other American bands that try to step into the ring with the mighty Scandinavians and create an original sound of brutality. Album opener "Lines From An Epitaph" kicks the doors down with a swirl of keyboards, a dual guitar attack and kick drum fueled blast beats. Just when you think the song is headed for black metal territory vocalist Chris Harrell enters the fray with his hardcore stylings and growlings. While Harrell brings muscular vocals to this record, he also pulls out surprising Burton Bell-like harmonies on songs like "The Age In Which Tomorrow Comes" and "Embrace The Plague". The guitar sounds of Mike Casavant and Allen Glassman collide with the keyboard wall of sound provided by Ben Schulkin throughout Angel Maker, creating often dizzying time changes, especially on the vertigo inducing title track and "Rebirth". Ken Susi (Unearth) has masterfully produced this record to create an aural experience akin to being in the midst of a tornado with riffs and beats flying all around the listener.

Hardcore, metalcore, black metal...It's all packed tightly into Burn In Silence's debut CD and then explodes upon listening. If this is the sound of a band just beginning to tap their potential, I shudder to think what they're going to sound like in a couple of years. No one will be laughing then...