AFTER THE BURIAL | Evergreen | Album Review

After The Burial is an example of a band with one of the more unfortunate circumstances in the metal scene, but in a great way they've managed to get past it and continue to succeed. After losing original guitarist Justin Lower in 2015 after a fatal and tragic downward spiral, it has seemed that the only way to cope was to keep on going, and with that we were given 2016's "Dig Deep" which became the band's most successful album to date. Three years later, we now have a follow-up to that album in "Evergreen". After The Burial are one of the more prominent names in the progressive metal/djent scene and even helped pioneer the genre during the start of their career. They aren't much different from other bands in the genre giving us highly groovy riffs and aggressive vocals, but every disc is meant to have a slightly different influence and motivation behind it while in a way still being the band's style by definition, or that's what guitarist Trent Hafdahl stated in an interview about the new nine track set. "I feel very strongly that this album is OUR sound. Our fans could hear this anywhere without any reference and say 'that sounds like an After The Burial riff... It's heavy, it's melodic, it's slow at times and fast at others. It's intense and free-flowing all in the same instance", he mentioned. With all of the comments about how this is the definitive ATB album and the intentions behind it being solid, this is set to be another album that fans could really enjoy. 

"Behold The Crown" and "Exit, Exist" kick off this nine track set and both were released as singles prior to this album being released to the public. Both tracks set the tone of the style you'll hear for the entirety of the album. To be honest, though, while these songs are the perfect choice to kick this album off, these are not the highlights of "Evergreen". "Behold The Crown" is the epitome of that statement as it features a guitar riff that wears out its welcome and gets grating after about ten seconds. I don't know why this riff was even a good idea, but thankfully the rest of the album isn't as bad as that song. Tracks like "In Flux" and "The Great Repeat" are classic After The Burial styled tracks that work very well and feature good grooves to them, especially "The Great Repeat" which also brings in a good amount of technical guitar work. "Respire" is a track that dabbles a bit more in traditional metalcore despite having a djent styled breakdown halfway through, and all of the elements combine together in a fluent way. The final two cuts also have a lot to love about them with "To Challenge Existence" proving that they can make djent fun and "A Pulse Exchanged" being the highlight of the entire album mixing in various styles of metal to make a satisfying closer. 

While there are tracks on this album that don't resonate as well for me as the ones I've mentioned like "Behold The Crown" and "Quicksand", one prominent flaw that I have with this album is that the production should have a lot more punch to it than they're trying to inject into it. While the production is serviceable in parts, some songs sound rather flat and are begging to have a bit more of an impact factor to them. There is also a little bit of a desire for diversity as well. That is something that you're definitely likely to hear on "Evergreen" but they could have either implemented it better in some tracks or tried a bit harder in a few areas. However, as a disc that is basically After The Burial showcasing their best qualities, it's not a bad use of that product. "Evergreen" is simply the case of a band who is confident in their style and can easily find a way to make it work despite not being much different from other works. And in that sales pitch of this album, it will easily get people to buy in. Overall, After The Burial will certainly impress longtime fans of the band and newcomers with this new album. It may not be their most experimental or most diverse album to date, but there is enough evergreen in this forest to keep all eyes glaring. 

RATING: 7/10

Leave your thoughts about this album in the comments section below. Was this album good or bad? Was it a surprise or a disappointment? All you have to do is type it in. Everybody's opinions matter even if they are different than mine. Scamp4553 will be back with more reviews and content coming your way soon.



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