Burnt by the Light

Corpse Garden's debut album is my least favorite record by the band to be honest. The band's proposal for this album consists of modern death metal with unnecessary hints of melody, over polished production and almost no blast beats or high tempos at all. Luckily they evolved on their next couple of full lengths. Songwriting displayed on “Burnt by the light” is generic but the execution is perfect and fairly technical at times, at least the guitarwork and the drumming. Production lets you appreciate everything clearly except for the bass lines that are actually mediocre so it doesn't really make any difference. The lyrical concept is anti religion which is perfect but it's done in a very childish and shallow way with no real insight or solid statements.

Drumming is one of my favorite aspects of this album definitely, the performer shows good taste for drawing cymbal and tum fills, blast beats aren't used a lot but when used the snare dynamics are consistent and solid. Double bass drums aren't particularly fast in a linear way but are used to decorate complex pulsating patterns that include triplets and other amusing figures that are indeed fast but short. Songs are generally built around mid paced tempos and tupa-tupa thrash beats. Bass guitar is played with finger picking technique; slowing down tremolo guitar riffs at half speed, typical of lazy players. It exists on the mix but composition wise it isn't important at all, there aren't any low end arrangements in the whole 48 minutes. The bass tone itself shows good sound modelling taste, some distortion and a bright edge to cut through the sound of the rest of the band but the performance is so bland that they decided to relegate it to the background of the mix.

The guitar work on the other hand shows signs of high playing dexterity, the only problem is that those arrangements usually are too melodic and give the music that generic Gothenburg sound rather than identity or at least heaviness or darkness to the music. It sounds innocent for a band that sells a raw death metal image. Composition is not extremely segmented and is pretty logical, it’s the riffing what fails to deliver tension, weight and depth to the music. The vocals are ok, growls are legible; not extremely deep or low but they do the job, the immature lyrics are the weakest part. Production as I said before is very polished and professional, which isn't something inherently bad but doesn't helps the music to sound more aggressive or obscure. Latter phonograms showed the band’s true potential, luckily for the Costa Rican extreme metal scene, because they have more projection and resources that most of the bands around here.

Corpse Garden plays a style which is almost atmospheric in it's tone, without relying on keyboards or gimmicks. Melodic guitar lines carry speech-like rhythms which stick out and grab one's attention. The over all style is that of Behemoth or Morbid Angel playing a more melodic and a much more technical style, rather than your generic weird guitar tone, 100 notes per riff and overtly technical drumming you'd normally find under the label of technical death metal.

When it's thrashy, it's not quite thrash, and when it's technical, it's not technical in the normal overt way. The emphasis is less on brutality and more on good riffs, at least, that's the impression I get, that's what the band seemed to feel was more important. I sense some vague old school heavy metal influences in some of the rhythm guitar, which really help to smooth it out and makes for a unique twist.

The guitar tone is not the heaviest, and could afford to be a little louder, but it's another quirk that might work to this album's advantage. When there's a lot of good playing going on, you don't want a wall of sound. So it helps keep everything separated in the mix, and brings attention to the over all product, not just crazy guitar work.

Hypocrite is one of the strongest tracks here, starts with some nice Iron Maiden-esque tapping and lead, and breaks into a sweet series of change-ups, which again, are very intelligently paced - and placed. The song ends with some headbang-inducing, chugging riffs.

There are so many stylistic nods to a range of different styles, let's say this is "technical really-heavy heavy metal", because technical death metal could be misleading. This is very strong stuff, which is pretty unique, an ideal amount of technicality and melody, and just well put together. The production values could definitely be better, and on a technical death metal album, I would like the bass to be more prevalent.

Over all, a great debut release. Recommended.

"Burnt by the Light" is one is the best produced metal albums in Costa Rica's history. This guys really did a great effort and the result is a very solid album, with great riffs, powerful grunts and skillful drumming. Something interesting is the change on the sound. Their 2009 demo was more technical death metal style. "Burnt by the Light" is still Technical Death Metal, but you can perceive some classic meath metal riffs. For example, songs like "Echoes of Death" and "Hypocrite" has now more classic death metal sound than their demo versions.

Guitars are executed in a really nice way. There are many catchy riffs in this album. However, by the end, it could become monotone. On the other hand, the bass is perfectly played. Corpse Garden's bassist, Esteban Solano, is one of the best in Costa Rica and he proves it in there. Drumming is also a high point in "Burnt by the Light". Mejía has improved his technique and has become in a really skillful drummer. His double bass is just insane. 10/10 for the drums. However, the vocalist takes all the credit. Grunts and growls are just perfect! It's a shame that Roberto Vargas left the band after recording this album. This vocals gave an aggressive sound.

Corpse Garden has really grown with this release. They are no longer "Kinder Garden", as they were called by some people a few years ago. They have demonstrated that, nowadays, they are one of Costa Rica's top metal bands, and probably, they will continue showing improvements and solid sound.

Recommended tracks:
- "Arquitects Of Deception"
- "Killing In The Name Of God"
- "Hypocrite"

After two years of waiting since their first demo, Corpse Garden starts this year with an excellent production of ten tracks called Burnt By the Light. This release contains faster riffs, awesome guitar solos, pretty well-off grunts, and very skillful drum riffs that you can enjoy during the whole album.

First of all, I think that the production of this album is just awesome. It is very well-mixed and mastered, providing each song with a clear sound and a very good rhythm too. Also, with respect with the lyrical themes and the voice of Roberto Vargas, I think that he does an excellent job here. The lyrics are well-mixed with the songs. When I heard the album, I couldn't resist a great headbang with the awesome blast beats from the drums and the very deepest, dark, and brutal riffs of the rest of the instruments.

If you really like a great technical death metal with fast, dark, and brutal riffs, you'll like this album. I recommend the songs Architects of Deception, Hypocrite, Last Agony, and Echoes of Death. This is the proof that Corpse Garden returns with new material and is one of the greatest metal bands in all of Costa Rica.