‘Let the blade drop, free me from these bonds’.
In 2020 Bury Tomorrow released their sixth album ‘Cannibal’, it was reviewed by my dear colleague Zoe Marchment, who sadly lost her fight against pancreatic cancer that same year. It was her last album review for Original Rock. Today I take up the task of reviewing their seventh album in her honour, this one’s for you Zoe.
UK metalcore kings Bury Tomorrow return with ‘The Seventh Sun’ a post lockdown look at how things are shaping up as tours are underway and we all seem to be getting on with life as it is now.
Singer Daniel Winter-Bates is known for speaking out on mental health, freely expressing his own fears and anxieties, and helping others to cope and providing safe areas to discuss strategies and lifestyle choices. He has created an important awareness, much needed in this cruel, cruel world.
Press play and wait for that angst filled pit call ‘fuuuccckkk’ at 0.48 on the title track, it will help to clear your brain and waken those dormant senses, keep it here folks, BT are about to slam-dunk your body onto the canvas.
‘Abandon Us’ talks of how we are all take and no give, we leave chaos in our wake, we are greedy, careless, and disrespectful of our environment. In true metalcore style we go from harsh to hushed and back round again, perfectly pitched, perfectly arranged so we feel the full benefit of the songs, we know when to join in fervently and we know when to sit back and listen.
Zoe spent her life following Bury Tomorrow with great interest and enthusiasm, she was avidly spreading the word about this up and coming band and how they were the ‘one to watch’ and it saddens me that she is not here to witness the rest of their journey. She would have been so proud and so ecstatic that her incessant networking had paid off and people were taking notice.
The blissful tones of ‘Majesty’ just tears you up as we all hope for a reset and try to retrieve some of the happier times we lost. It resurrects those feelings we forgot we had; we can see a better way through with the prompts this track provides.
The compositions here are kinaesthetic; the musicianship is astute enough that it can convey messages and portray entire scenarios non-verbally.
We sit down with the ‘Heretic’ and at 1.21 in dives Loz Taylor (While She Sleeps) to add his weight to the rousing, dark ceremonial feel to this song, the video is not for the squeamish, as the scene descends into murderous mayhem. Mental health is a constant in our lives, the track ‘Recovery?’ begs the question that do we recover from it? The answer lies within our own mind, these feelings are for life, we need to learn to deal with them and incorporate them, work with them, and push through the anxiety. We finish with ‘The Carcass King’ featuring the vocal talents of Cody Frost, the contrast is a joy to listen to, we get the gritty, growly, and gnarly sitting prettily next to the serene and lustrous, sending the song into the stratosphere. A mystical end to a record that may or may not have happened as many artists endured the devastation of lockdown.
To all our yesterdays, let’s bury tomorrow.
Azra Pathan
Bury Tomorrow – The Seventh Sun out now.