ASPHYXIUM ZINE

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Demo Review: Burier "Burier II" (Independent) by Kelly Tee

Band: Burier
Country: Australia
Genre: Raw black metal
Demo: Burier II
Label: Independent
Format: Streaming, digital download
Release date: January 16, 2020
Burier is a one-man black metal project hailing from Australia. There is little known about this mysterious artist as he succeeds in keeping his identity hidden, however he is wasting no time in showing the black metal community he is here to stay and is hell bent on creating dissonant and torturous experiences for his listeners.
Burier released Burier II in January 2020, and this comes one year after its predecessor, Burier I, both of which can be heard on Burier’s Bandcamp site.
Let us talk Burrier II. I find some of these obscure, harsh, and devastatingly angst-driven albums can be quite hard to listen to. Not because I don't like the music or appreciate this style, I thrive on this kind of black metal. What this style of grim and tortured black metal can do for me is create deep reflection on what it was that conjured up these emotions that are being translated through the artist's music and that, of course, can be quite confronting. Burrier II did just this for me.
Burier II is a journey through pain, discouragement, darkness, and gloom.
The production of this album reeks of decay. It is very distorted, extremely foggy, and messy, and it does so to create an atmosphere that can be described as extremely grim and reverent. It has a strong feeling of damnation interpreted from the incredibly cathartic lyrics. Believe it or not, amidst this absolute mayhem, there is a faint, stirring melody lying under the distorted, warped sounds making up these five tracks. It is this melody that assists their huge, intense and emotive pull. Vocally, it quickly becomes clear that this artist is expelling so much doom and raw emotion with his style and therapeutic lyrics, in a manner that had a continuous effect on me. It was as if I was walking within the shadows of this entire demo. It's uncompromising, compelling, extremely unrelenting, and it just goes and goes; it does not give you rest. Its hard, hateful opinions are being vocally bestowed on you in such a way, it's just incredible. This artist wants to share the pain, it's obvious; share the pain, share the misery, and he has done this well. Add to this crushing distorted guitars, and the creation of a huge dark suffering mood and it will weigh heavily on you as the listener.
This demo kicks off with 'One Thousand Wings', running just past ten minutes in duration. It is an emotionally exhausting journey full of arduous attitude, perfect for wearing you down. It is smothered in haze and rot, and transcends absolute decline. The sounds of disdain and torment are strong, and therefore, I had no choice but to let myself ride with it and let it carry me away. I won't say that it took me to nice places at all though. There's nothing nice about this experience; it was a challenging and confronting listen and there is power in that. A truly brilliant track to commence the spiral of suffering of this demo. 'One Thousand Wings' ends with effective, fitting synth that carried a sense of finality, almost a peace within the suffering so to speak.
'Deep As The Fear That Circles': I loved this track’s title, however I loved the guitar patterns more. The tremolo picking is not shimmering at all; it is so abrupt, so stark, yet it remains aligned to the cold, chilly atmosphere of the album. The musicianship comes together while growing in volume. As the composition continues to strengthen it feels like large, dark, forbidding, and low-lying cloud hovering over me, creating a bleak and heavy feeling. I loved the riffage in this manic track, the melody that the riffs carried, matched with low toned guitars. The overarching soundscapes took the experience to the darkest corners of the mind and the most taboo areas of the psyche.
The ritual of letting go through this music has been done so well by Burier, on Burier II. The chaos created confusion for me, the riffage was unique and obscure, the beats were sometimes off-centre, and there was a distortion to this production surely done so deliberately as to create a sense of disorientation while creating a moody and raw listen.
Rawness is most certainly the law within Burier II’s demo. It provides an encounter that’s damaging and stained with filth as it transports you along a steady journey of aggression, pain and dejection. -Kelly Tee

Lineup:
Burier: Vocals. All instruments

Track list:
1. One Thousand Wings
2. Blades Of Rapture
3. Trapped By The Dawn
4. Deep As The Fear That Circles
5. Rot Eternal

Watch Kelly Tee's video review of "Burier II" here. -DW

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