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Zonata > Buried Alive > Reviews
Zonata - Buried Alive

Feels like I'm safe here - 96%

Andromeda_Unchained, August 29th, 2013

I covered this one a few years back at The Metal Crypt and decided that I'd churn out a brand spanking new review, just for you five guys who are going to read this!

I always felt that Buried Alive was a pretty fitting name for Zonata's final album, and although I don't know the reasons why these guys split it always felt a little premature to me; especially coming off from such a quality release. I'm surprised this one has a remained a favourite of mine for so long, I've been spinning this for years now. Everything about Buried Alive is so cool, from the kick-ass cover artwork (anyone else think it looks a little like a Chaos Nurgle Lord on Daemonic Steed?) all the way up to the superb music contained within.

One thing that has always stood out to me about Buried Alive and Zonata in general is their guitar and keyboard interplay. They totally avoid the Freedom Call, "The Final Countdown" style of keyboards, utilizing a sound which comes off as mystical in places and sort of like a carnival spectacle in others. When mixed in with the guitars they tend to intertwine and swirl around each other, providing an aspect to their sound I don't particularly feel many other bands have matched. Take a look at the "Last Step" to best discern what I mean.

As for the music on the whole, I think the entire album comes off as really varied and is without a doubt a lot of fun. I've kept coming back to this one, so I can assure the longevity is there. I've touched on the guitar and keyboard interplay, which is definitely one of Buried Alive's defining factors; although it's certainly worth mentioning that the riffs themselves are all pretty damn tasty. I particularly enjoy that shit-kicking heavy metal riff that opens up "The Mourner's Tale".

Johannes Nyberg's vocals are another of Buried Alive's highlights, boasting a cool tone with a good amount of grit stirred in to ensure rippers such as the title track and "Unleashed" hit their mark. I guess it would be remiss not to mention the propulsive rhythm section which is across the board excellent; a dynamic and varied drum performance complete with a rumbling bass attack sets up the backbone to the Zonata sound.

On the whole I personally think Buried Alive is a classic in its genre, a hidden gem, and a release I sincerely hope isn’t lost in the annals of time. If you count yourself as any sort of power metal aficionado then this release is one you should fervently seek out. Highly recommended!

Solid swan song lacking an air supply - 70%

autothrall, December 27th, 2010

Buried Alive is the third and final full-length from Zonata, the cap on a career that all told, spanned about 4-5 years of meaningful if obscure discourse. It arrived the year after Reality, and perhaps this explains the overall similarity of the style, but there are a few details that deserve mention. For one, Buried Alive is the best produced of the band's efforts, with a richer focus on the guitars. Perhaps this is the addition of a new second player, but also the way the synthesizers are written to interact with the chords. This is also the strongest performance of Johannes Nyberg's vocals, which still carry their fundamental similarities to the Kai Hansens, Henning Basses and Joacim Cans out of Europe, but cut beautifully through the music.

This would also be the most 'progressive' sounding of their albums, but only slightly nudging out beyond Reality, as far as the dynamics and variety of riffs are concerned, whether that be the stilted anthem chorus of "The Last Step", pumping and scintillating hard rock pulse of "The Mourner's Tale", measured power of "In the Chamber", or high octane frenzy of the title track, which I'd consider the best individual track on the entire album, with a killer chorus hook and dense and effective rhythms that get the fist banging as hard as anything off their debut Tunes of Steel. There are a few other power house pieces like "Blade of the Reaper" and "Unleashed" which are nearly as thrilling, but a few dopier anthems like "Heroes of the Universe" or the mostly hit or miss melodic swagger of "A Dark Chapter" balance out the overall quality, which rests somewhere between their prior efforts.

For whatever reason, this would be the final hour of Zonata, with some members going off to similar, under the radar power mastiffs like Freternia. They never quite had the support or audience that they might have deserved, but then, they're not exactly what I'd think of as top of the line for their chosen genre, which was in clear overhaul at the time of this album's inception. More than enough adventure here for the melodic power/prog devotee, but such folks are few and far between. It's not like you could skip a rock down your suburban street and hit a few fans of Dream Theater or Fates Warning, never mind Zonata, so the potential here would likely be lost upon the more casual music fan or the bloodthirsty metal extremist. Buried Alive is a good record, maybe not as good as Reality, and with some pretty lacking lyrics, but a clear sign that the band were honing their strengths as opposed to looking sideways or backwards.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Amazing - 100%

politicallyincorrect, June 25th, 2007

Power metal is a rather controversial subject in the metal world. Being ridiculed for its high vocals and "upbeat" sound and its lyrics about dragons and knights, it almost hard to take a band like that seriously. But Zonata have proved to leave a mark on the scene. Buried Alive would be their last album before the band decided to disband, but they ended it well.

The production is top notch. All instruments can be heard very well, none drown out the other. You can actually hear the bass drums extremely well. Buried Alive has some fast and aggressive songs as well as some slow moody ones. Lyrics deal with dark subjects like loss and death, way different from typical power metal lyrics. The typical use of "power metal screams" can be heard mostly on Visions of Sorrow and Unleashed, where they seem to make you want to laugh. The keys are mostly melodic, piano based, instead of using alot of strings to make it symphonic and epic.

This is a definately a power metal album worth buying.