There is something special happening in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Bury Thy Kingdom calls home. Bury Thy Kingdom sparks hints from all walks of metal but does so without even once sounding like anything you’ve ever heard before. Its truly amazing how appealing they are across the metal spectrum. They do it all and do it spectacularly. Just go listen to “Edge of The Sea,” a tasty ass 7 tracker to understand what I’m saying. I mean don’t even read this! Just go check it out!
But, if you’re sticking around I’ll start this off with the vocals. The screams are at a perfect balance between demonic death growls and metal-core belts. The vox are super heavy but you can still relate to them…a half-witted comparison would be to Winston McCall of Parkway Drive, but BTK is even more brutal about it. What I’m trying to say is that its works faultlessly. As do the clean vocals, which are done by an axe man. If you view the EP as a whole the cleans are standout bits that give their songs that element that listeners eat up. The manner in which BTK uses clean vocals differs from what you would expect. Each singing segment serves a goddamn purpose! They sprinkle singing in periodically and its done so well that you may find yourself skipping around looking for them. Which might be a smart thing to do so that when they play in your town, you can learn the lyrics and party along with their on stage energy. I said they do it all…so yeah uh they got some keyboards…and to go along with those keyboards, a keyboardist who throws down! The role of the keyboards is similar to the clean singing. I would say they accent this headbangable EP but that is an understatement…the keys somehow fuel BTK through melodies, fade-outs and breakdowns but they are not by any means keyboard heavy. The keys are laced through out the track so beautifully it’s like a secret ingredient. You can taste it. You freaking love it. It holds everything together. But you’ll never fully comprehend it. Many bands try to use this “secret ingredient” but use too much, resulting in a ruined dish, some use the wrong ingredient and when you take a bite you are like, “ew why is this spice in my food?” Not the case on “Edge of The Sea.” Its like the Emeril of keyboards or something.
You’ve made it this far with no mention of guitars or drums…well…whose fault is that? It’s yours! For not checking it out “Edge of The Sea” as was stated above! In the guitar workings you can pick up on hints of The Human Abstract, August Burns Red and Periphery. I know that really makes no freaking sense but it’s hard to make a comparison with a band that has such a unique sound. Its not like they switch styles from one sub-genre to the next, its not like they even try to sound like some of the biggest names, its more like they write good music and its just weird to hear an unsigned come across so original and complete. Simply speaking. Dude. They. Write. Good. Songs. Man. “Edge of The Sea” feels so solid in the ear (almost said rear) and the drumming is the unbreakable backbone that deserves credit for this. The drums never slow for one second the whole EP. The pedal work drives forcefully under every track. Its so cool how it serves up pounding rhythm while the guitars are dabbling in melody. A good use of the snare during tempo/time changes adds some extra technicality. I mentioned guitar shredding; I mentioned beastly drums…am I missing something? Oh yeah a bass player that hangs along with both! One second bass riffs quick with the leads, the next second bass runs through merciless breakdowns patterns along side the pedals.
My favorite song might be “Edge of The Sea” while a fan favorite seems to be “Khan Artist.” Both kick ass. Its Bury Thy Kingdom. Put them into your ears. These guys have just begun…its scary to think what will come next.
– Tyler Dermitt
