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AFTER THE BURIAL: In Dreams (Album Review)

By Taylor Younani

Release Date: November 23rd, 2010
Record Label: Sumerian

My rating points:



    Track Listing:
  1. My Frailty
  2. Your Troubles Will Cease and Fortune Will Smile Upon You
  3. Pendulum
  4. Bread Crumbs and White Stones
  5. To Carry You Away
  6. Sleeper
  7. Promises Kept
  8. Encased in Ice

After the Burial, a technical metal band from Minnesota just recently put out their third full length album entitled, In Dreams. A huge fan of the band since they put out their masterpiece, Rareform, in 2008, I was quite anxious to see what the band had in store for their fans, and what their new vocalist, Anthony Notarmaso, would bring to the band.

The album begins with a song entitled "My Frailty", which the band has been playing live on their recent tours. Immediately, the album is off to an incredible start. The power behind Justin Lowe and Trent Hafdahl's twin guitars is absolutely amazing to listen to. Not to mention the bands signature, almost breakdown like segments to each song.

After My Frailty came to an end, the only thing that I wanted was to hit the repeat button on my computer. But then, to my surprise, the second song called "Your Troubles Will Cease and Fortune Will Smile Upon You" began, and I found myself loving it even more than the song before. To be honest, I have heard some pretty cool intros to songs that could make even the most uptight metalhead move their body to the music, but this song has to be one of the coolest. The way the band can transition from a straight up "deathcore" like intro to a beautiful and almost dream-like chorus is beyond me. Every time I listen to this band's music, I honestly feel as though metal music is the best that it has been in years.

The band pushed through another 4 remarkable songs where the album reaches a turning point with the song, "Promises Kept". For me, this was one of the more interesting songs on the album. The song starts off with a nice acoustic intro and takes a heavy turn about 20 seconds into the album, yet maintains the melodic nature the intro brought to the song through melodic guitar parts. An interesting thing about the song is that it includes clean vocals as well as Anthony's screams. Clean vocals have never been heard in an ATB song in the past, but this band can truly pull off anything.

In my opinion, After the Burial's "In Dreams" is the album that will truly establish this band as the musical geniuses they are and forever cement their place as kings in the heavy metal world.

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