What is needed to say if it hasn’t been already said, the Italian extreme metal scene has got to be one of my favorites in the underground and with the new album by death metal outfitters Burial, I can arguably say this is top notch material for the extreme metal scene. Released on Everlasting Spew Records, Burial is a Italian based death metal band that also incorporates doom signatures which in this case you may describe them as a funerous, gloomy and aggressive in what it appears to be a vortex so incredibly dark and detailed, this album by Burial is unadulterated sounding at finest. Now, I can’t really speak much about the lyrical content but from the amazing artwork by Paolo Girardi who’s done some of my favorites in the last decade including bands such as Bell Witch, Nocturnal Graves, Firespawn, Inquisition, Power Trip and many more.
Musically, Burial mainly focus on creating a style so modernized, contemporary and doomy at times but they do have a old school death metal flair to the sound in which this case I get a lot of musical influences by many artists on the metal world. From the opening track of The Curse Of The Unbornlike God giving that Autopsy Mental Funeral-esque soundscapes, to the more cavernous, cavemen like approach of Dark Womb Of Outern Creation in which reminded me of something Hooded Menance or Undergang would create, they don’t really focus on having technical proficiencies in the songwriting but rather keeping the instrumentals, songwriting and fluidity going to make the tracks keep it steadying without losing its sense of balance and character. Everything from the vocals, guitars, bass, drums and production is concerned sounds dynamic, clear and experimental to the point the band wanted to paint a imagery to pay homage to their heroes they’ve looked up to in the death metal and death doom department in what appears to be a well matured, complex and diverse album showcasing the bands more experimental side in which they executed it flawlessly.
Even moments during the album’s closure, I get a sense of a cosmological atmosphere in the arrangements which I’m not gonna lie, I do love when bands rely on the whole science fiction, astronomical themes very much so but Burial’s way of creating a album that is engaging and mesmerizing so to speak makes me appreciate the beauty and nature in what they’ve brought to the forefront. Gateways To The Slumbering Equilibrium At The Center Of Cosmos is not only a album will take patience and understanding to get a sense of what their music is all about, but if you want a record that is portraying the deepest, darkest and most doomy sounding albums of 2021, then Italy’s Burial would be the band for you to discover.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
