Italy based death-doom metal quartet Burial brings a monumental work on their first full-length album “Inner Gateways To The Slumbering Equilibrium At The Center Of Cosmos”, out via Everlasting Spew Records on October 29th 2021. Since 2012 mastermind Leonardo B. (guitars), Enrico F. (vocals, bass), Samuele S. (drums), and Morgan B. (guitars) have mastered their craft as they found innovative ways to delve deeper into the otherworldly realms of death/doom. With the quartet raising the bar to define their aesthetics, the album offers a bleak journey of forty-four minutes that is full of cavernous grunts, and slow excruciating marches lurching towards the eerie spheres of ominous musical domains. Through five tracks of Burial’s crushing doom, sections echo powerfully the eldritch ominousness of uncanny death-doom vibes offers colossal talents and impressive songwriting abilities. 

The album cover artwork, which was exquisitely created by Paolo Girardi, gives the music an extra supernatural aura of spookiness. From the washed-out churning guitars on the album opener “The Curse of the Unbornlike God”, the Italian adepts take the listener into a frightening mysterious voyage. Fusing the brutal trudging paces of death metal, the lurching riffs brilliantly blends death and doom metal into one concrete sound. With this extensive feature of sonic components, the lead guitars conjure a nightmarish experience. Uncanny, extremely brutal, and uniquely slow at times, the churning riffs and slow chord-laden guitars paint horrible landscapes. The vocals exude low, deep grunts adding an otherworldly feel. Even though the majority of the tracks lean on the slower side of death/doom metal, its brooding tones are brimming full of unsettling tempos.  

“Halls of the Formless Unraveler” is crammed with layers of eerie rhythms, the vocals offer monstrous growls, most effectively the guitars create an impenetrable wall of sound. The drumming performance is absolutely tight on the album and provides excellent patterns for the persistent jack-hammering blast beats. There is an entrancing element of juxtaposition. Most effectively in the slow guitar sections you can notice the drums and the guitars are played at different speeds. The massive bursting of the double bass is backed by soul-crushing riffs, and these moments remarkably define the qualities of the band. The guitar hooks are gripping and create spacious dimensions of brooding darkness. There are some elements that bring Disembowelment in mind, therefore the songs parade slowly into the bleak landscapes.

Burial harnesses different aspects from death/doom and funeral doom metal. “Inner Gateways to the Slumbering Equilibrium at the Center of Cosmos” is replete with creepy undertones. The extraordinary performance of the band has resulted in some of the most thrilling releases in this sub-genre. Slithering from the dark sinister tones of death/doom metal, the five minutes instrumental track “Absent Visions Conceive Unspeakable Beings” presents something more ethereal and visceral. Suddenly the guitars emphasize the meditative mood by creating an aura of rich atmosphere. The detailed backdrop of the lush guitars demonstrates the creative palette of its composition. There is a kind of alchemy within the guitar department that gradually draws you into unworldly darkness.

These creepy soundscapes are claustrophobic and cold, the smooth crawl between the tempos manifests the abilities of the lead guitars. There is an unnerving spectacle of horror, especially in the unsettling sections of the drums that are truly unnerving. Burial’s entrancing slow-paced tempos provide ample full of space for the instruments to shimmer whereas the music orbits around distant spheres. “Dark Womb of Outern Creation” imbues nightmarish sensations. The reverb percussion and the boisterous tremolos form multiple layers allowing the dynamic effect to move gradually between the slow paces to blast beats, while the cavernous growls encapsulate the intergalactic shift of the drums.

Unfurling in an atmospheric miasma, the album closure “Inner Gateways To The Slumbering Equilibrium At The Center Of Cosmos” is the longest cut which somehow finds the perfect balance between the drifting atmosphere of the slow guitar rhythm and the dark ominous vibes that could fit into a Lovecraftian themed song. Through its pulverizing blast beats and excellent drum fills the slow creepy undertones permeates the listener’s soul.

Burial’s full-length album has transcended in quality and sound, the quartet gives us an in-depth sight of their deep musical arrangements. This is one of my favorite albums of the year, stands as a serious contender in the genre of death/doom metal and comes highly recommended for the fans of Disembowelment, Inverloch, and Evoken.  

Release Date: October 29th, 2021
Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Tracklist:

1. The Curse Of The Unbornlike God
2. Halls Of The Formless Unraveler
3. Absent Visions Conceive Unspeakable Beings
4. Dark Womb Of Outern Creation
5. Inner Gateways To The Slumbering Equilibrium At The Center Of Cosmos