Band: Live Burial
Album: Unending Futility
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Genre: Death Metal
Release Date: 24 APRIL 2020
When someone says that metal has died, or that all the good bands stopped back in the 80's or 90's, I'm curious if they've delved into the more underground labels. We have fantastic acts coming out year after year with hits such as Tomb Mold with Manor of Infinite Forms back in 2018, and then Blood Incantation with Hidden History of the Human Race in 2019. Now, it seems, we have another addition into this old school death metal worship with UK's Live Burial and their upcoming record, Unending Futility.
The question, which has been asked several times already, is Unending Futility good? Yeah, a dozen times over. It fucking rocks. Like Carcassbomb over at noobheavy mentioned already, that opening bass line just does something nasty to me! The album is steeped in the grimy waters of the early 90's death metal scene, which is my favorite (Left Hand Path, Human, Cause of Death).
Let's get back to the record at hand now. The beauty of this album is that above all of that grimy death there is a high level of technicality that seems to melt right into the mixture. From the way bass player Lee Anderson keeps marching, to how Rob Hindmarsh and Richard Codling compliment each other so well with their guitar playing, and Matthew Henderson kicking some serious ass on the skins there doesn't seem to be a way these guys can lose. Raging through the cacophony is vocalist Jamie Brown, leaving everything on the bloody floor.
The tracks are somewhat on the longer side, averaging about 5 and a half minutes each if you don't count track 6 at just 1:31. The length gives the band plenty of time to introduce extremely memorable passages that hearken back to the days when we weren't all as easily distracted and would regularly just listen to full records in one sitting.
In fact, my personal favorite track would have to be the closer, "Cemetery Fog." Sitting at just under 10 minutes, this is the longest track on the record. For the first almost 2 and a half minutes, it's just a build up of instrumental passages (minus a short growl), and then Jamie rages back in for a whirlwind of a time. The length allows them to illustrate their strengths, by switching in clashing confidence from a slow drag to a thunderous roll.
I'm giving Unending Futility a 8.5/10