Buried Under Sky – Darkest Corners

Share this on Facebook | Share this on Twitter

From Bandcamp, “BURIED UNDER SKY is a Melodic Metal project that formed in the middle of the 2020 pandemic. With an avowed love for dueling melodies and hard rock rhythms, the band wears its nineties influences on its sleeve with zero ambition to be the fastest, hardest, heaviest, or anything but four middle-aged guys with day jobs making the metal they want to hear.” “Darkest Corners” contains five songs.

“Extinguishing the Stars” is the first. The bass work isn’t too shabby here, but the riffs are very simple, and neither the harsh vocals nor the cleans work very well with the sound. Stylistically, I am really not sure how to categorize this, so let’s keep listening. “Darkest Corners” is a bit overdone with lamenting elements. Though I am not sure where the band is from, they have a distinct Gothic edge to them, like some German bands, especially in the clean vocals. But the songwriting needs work. “To Walk Upon Disintegration” is put together a little better. Think THE CURE meets modern Metalcore. The bass and drum work are pretty solid, but if the band is going to hang their hat on that overly lamenting sound, I’m afraid the album won’t ever really take off.

“Ghosts of May” begins with haunting piano notes, and smooth, mellow vocals. This is what lamenting tones done properly sound like…a full commitment. Slowly you sink into the quicksand that is hardening around you and there isn’t a sole in sight who can help. “We Eat Our Own” closes the EP. It features mostly harsh vocals, but some cleans as well, with very solemn tones. As the album progresses, the band seems to find a niche. It’s just not quite enough to balance out the album as a whole, however. Overall, as I mentioned, the album seems to suffer from an overly lamenting sound. The harsh vocals are almost not even properly placed, because their anger doesn’t come through as strongly as it should. Keep an eye on them, however.

Songwriting: 5
Musicianship: 6
Memorability: 4
Production: 6