Search - Transmetal :: Burial at Sea

Saludos Metalicos!

04/29/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The third album (the first of only two among their dozen or so albums done in an English version, and still probably the easiest to find) of these Mexican thrash legends presents raw and rumbly thrash. Production and style-wise, it's pretty similar to the first Sepultura EP and LP minus a bit of the death metal influence. I always thought the Brazilians' first releases didn't have the spirit to back up the rawness of their early output, making it a bit sloppy and disjointed, so "Burial At Sea" comes across better to me than the flat "Morbid Visions."The big problem here is a lot of the good material here isn't used effectively. Check out the rumbling opening riff to the title track (it almost parallels the passengers of a certain-vessel-prone-to-colliding-with-icebergs flailing about before they inevitably drown)--why couldn't they built the entire song around it? A lot of the catchiest parts are lost in time changes. Pimentel's vocals are almost too unique to describe; the base is sort of the rough vocal style used by death/thrash bands in more exotic locales, not overly gutteral, but not clean. But they seem to be have been processed which at times gives the music an otherworldly effect, but at other times, hinders it.Unlike many other thrash bands of the time, there are no lyrical meanderings into the silly realms of societal/political commentary (unfortunately, they'd occasionally show up later); thankfully the lyrics remain exclusively focused on death (effects of, torment by, vengeance by, etc...).Not quite as simple and straightforward as their 2 earlier LPs, so not as immediately enjoyable, but admittedly not as monotonous, either."