You can see from miles away that this is After The Burial’s year. After setting the bar high for everyone with their first three albums (the debut “Forging A Future Self”, their masterpiece “Rareform”, and their acclaimed 2010 success “In Dreams”), this band has redesigned the standards of all modern metal. Whether it’s metalcore, deathcore, or djent, their influence on the evolution of this music, along with great bands like Veil Of Maya and Born Of Osiris, is unquestionable.
As they’re currently in the studio creating the new gem which will further enrich their discography (at least we hope so), the band decided to further arouse our interests by releasing re-recorded versions of three songs from their brilliant debut “Forging A Future Self”. The three that were chosen are “A Steady Decline”, “Fingers Like Daggers” and “Redeeming The Wretched”. All of which have become big time classics in the eyes and ears of many metalheads. So it’s no surprise that all the re-worked tracks are fucking epic!
This EP is actually flawless. The recording and production quality is perfect. The instumentation is just sublime. Overall it’s incredibly intense and enjoyable on every level, listen after listen.
The new Anthony Notarmaso vocals are also really appreciable, providing a personal, heartfelt and brilliant interpretation of the original lyrics belted by Nick Wellner. This wasn’t an easy accomplishment considering the two vocalists have greatly varying styles. In this EP, Notarmaso’s vocals are technically amazing but obviously not everybody will appreciate them since a lot of people are deeply fond of the original versions, which is a legit and comprehensible stand. Personally, I’m a fan of both vocalists and like to appreciate the different shades of their attitudes.
Besides the vocals and the audio quality there’s not much new stuff to discuss here. So we can largely approve this small release. We’ll keep it blasting as we look forward to the new album coming this fall. It’s looking to be truly amazing. Time to get stoked! …Very stoked!
-MATTIA
