Bury Your Dead – Mosh ‘N’ Roll (Mediaskare Records)
Friday, 22nd March 2013
Quite the difference six years makes, eh? At roughly this time in 2005, Bury Your Dead were arguably atop the American hardcore heap, backed by then-mega label Victory Records and making the rounds on Ozzfest with a totally pimped-out tour bus. And let’s not forget Jada Pinkett-Smith’s fondness for the band either. That will always put you over the top. Since then, BYD has undergone quite the facelift, including a label switch, although the return ofsinger
Mat Brusco (who replaces Myke Terry) has given the band a much-needed adrenal boost.
Something of a “back to our roots” album, Mosh ‘N’ Roll proves that BYD’s brand of thick, bottom-heavy hardcore can still fly if the right parts are in place, the most obvious being the punishing segments of “Slaughterhouse-Five” and the excellent “Deadeye Dick.” The band’s reliance on beatdowns/breadowns/mosh-parts/whatever is totally expected, so maybe that’s why a lot of these songs don’t evoke visions of meatheads running at full-force at each other as one would think.
At only 30 minutes and change Mosh ‘N’ Roll is smart enough to realize when to leave the party, and we’ll notch the band some extra points for having song titles named after Kurt Vonnegut works. It sure beats when BYD decided to devote an entire album to Tom Cruise movies (2004’s Cover Your Tracks) and it beats the hell out of having Pinkett-Smith jump onstage with you, all the while dodging projectiles and flippant remarks from sun-beaten metal juveniles. Can’t believe that really was six years ago…
(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)
