War, Revenge and Total Annihilation

One of the more wretched and vile Greek black metal entities, the Burial Hordes were unearthed in the early 21st century to wreak havoc through a number of scathing demos that culled influence from the very roots of the black metal genre. Both first and second wave sounds are heard in their punishing meat sculptures, from Bathory and Celtic Frost to Mayhem, and at least here on their debut, they have this nasty take no prisoners mentality involving an incendiary and writhing addiction to blasted speed that they wisely alternate with breakdowns into moody, dissonant nightmares or surges of mid-paced, spine rocking chords that summon up memories of Hellhammer and Darkthrone.

War, Revenge and Total Annihilation is all too apt a title for their full-length debut, for while it might not be the most unique or enduring slab of black aggression on the block, it is without any doubt destructive. Ominous, dark tolling heralds the churning mass of "Bestial Bloodwar" which is just so caustic and loud that it peels any layers remaining, epidermal innocence from the skin of the listener. "Aeons of Hell" baits the audience with further lightning fervor before lurching into a twist of colon crushing chords. The architecture of hostile, minor melodies that introduce "Cosmic Genocide" drip like nihilistic vampire fangs over its bruising black acceleration, and "The Rapture of Hatred" builds itself brick by brick like a tower of blood-mortared stones. Of course, if you seek simply to have your face ripped off by songs that make Marduk and Mayhem sound like elevator muzak, then Burial Hordes also provides you with fare like "Unholy, Ultra-Violent Domination" and "Army of Heretics" which will reduce you to nuclear ash.

Filthy, indomitable, and borne of pure punishing abyss-winds, this is a debut destined to appeal to those that seek out black metal for no other reason than skull fractures and slipped vertebrae. In this way, they remind me of the more extreme Northern storms like 1349, but with a mildly less surgical and technical approach to the riff writing. The mix of the guitars is both rich and textured, even if the riffs themselves do not exactly stand outside of the hellish sum of the band's parts. Burial Hordes represent savage efficiency and truth to despotic ideals more so than any sense for subtlety or complexity, and as such, there is an undeterred authenticity to their sound, which trumps several of their Greek peers (Naer Mataron, etc) in pure hostility. Several of the members here have played in numerous other scene bands (Mortuus Caelum, Enshadowed, and Dead Congregation to name a few), and the experience shows.

That said, War, Revenge and Total Annihilation is not the most memorable concussion in its field. Decidedly less retro than its successor (Devotion to Unholy Creed), it's merely a competent and crashing execution of the form, with decent lyrics. Difficult to pick out or recall even a single guitar line from the entire album, but unquestionably unbridled in its fury.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

"War, revenge and total annihilation" (a killer title, I might add) was my first encounter with these Greek fellows. I bought the album after hearing an MP3 online, and I was absolutely blown away. After that I’ve been fortunate to receive more releases from Burial Hordes, but as promo copies for review, much thanks for their manic vocalist Chtonos. And eventhough I had previously written a review for the original release of the album, he sent me a copy of this, the re-release, as thanks for my loyal support of the band. Well, what better way to thank them in return but to re-write my review, seeing as how the first one was fairly poorly written.

The artwork is completely new and it’s also re-vamped into a killer looking digipack. Unfolding the digipack you’ll find artwork very fitting to the band’s concept, but also one of the sickest and most wicked photo morphs I’ve ever seen. I’m not going tell you what it is, you’re just gonna have to buy the album. Upon pressing play the extremely hateful atmosphere hits me once again. The riffing is absolutely razorsharp and works perfectly in creation of slow, heavy and haunting sections as well as chilling and blazingly fast. The drumming sounds very natural during the faster parts, and carries none of the modern day faults of too clean and triggered blasting. Musically it’s complete chaos; reeking of hatred and utter blasphemy. Burial Hordes show lots of diversity within this chaos, where as tracks such as "Aeons of hell" is a showcase of killer old school riffing, while still incorporating a flair of unorthodox melody, and powerful aggression much thanks to the vocals and drumming. But they also manage to sound haunting and stark during slower tunes, such as "Glorious inferno", which has such a saddened aura hovering the song; an aura that would be the envy of all those crappy quasi depressive ‘I want to kill myself’ black metal bands around today; if you want to kill yourself just fucking do it, don’t come to me complaining about it. But Burial Hordes create a massive sadness without nagging about any other feelings besides hatred. And throughout it all we have the masterful, shredding vocals, sounding spiteful and extremely harsh, adding tons of aggression to the music.

As a bonus to the re-release we have two tracks taken from the split tape with Eschaton, one that I haven’t heard. The one bringing me the most joy (if one can call it joy) is "Submission to eternal pain", seeing as how it fully displays their influence from the old Norwegian scene. With the bonus tracks, wicked artwork and absolutely killer music I see absolutely no reason why not to purchase this album. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; an evil fucking masterpiece!

Originally written for www.mylastchapter.net

Super chaotic morbidity from this Greek horde! By 'chaotic' I don't mean that this has bizarre, non-linear song structures; I mean that the playing is in that great, punk-sounding style often found in Finnish black metal bands, for example Black Death Ritual. Burial Hordes are competent-enough musicians, but their playing sounds on the verge of being totally out-of-control. But in a good way! This gives many of the tracks a sense of urgency and impending calamity that keeps it exciting.

The production on this is rather muffled, but not in a 4-track recording sort of way. Closest thing, again, I can compare it to is Black Death Ritual or maybe Horna's "Aania Yossa", but it is not as hollow or dull-sounding as that release. This is not, due to that fact, an album you can really crank up and destroy hapless human sheep with. Though that is exactly what you'll WANT to do, no doubt, because that is exactly what this album seems designed for! However, I don't want readers to get the idea that this is a sub-quality production, either; it is just not loud or crisp enough for my tastes.

Burial Hordes DOES manage to pull off a couple of moments that are very impressive, especially the abrasive intro rasp into and then the old-style almost-rocking attack of track 8, and the really awkward-sounding and unique bridge in track 2, that on multiple listenings you can notice being foreshadowed within the prior verse. There is quite a bit of thought behind these songs, they are not overly-simplistic. Thankfully, they are not all "prog" and stupidly complex! The pace is most often very fast, though there are a few slightly slower breaks in the jackhammer action. This is nothing short of filthy, go-for-the-throat black metal. Nothing overtly shocking or blasphemous, and certainly NOTHING beautiful and delicate, but an entirely satisfying release that leaves me wanting more and more from this relatively new band. And for extra enjoyment, check out their kooky photos. VERY metal! and how hard do you suppose "Necrotormentor" had to research other bands' bios to make sure nobody ELSE had that name? All kidding aside, if you like chaotic, filthy black metal, be sure to support these fellows.