Creature Cruiser…
Buried At Birth Review

I was into Buried At Birth for a few seconds when their first EP came out on Grindcore Karaoke. The first track really got my attention with how fast it started and the awesome production and the great use of dissonance in the breakdown. But honestly, that’s the fondest memory I have about the band. I don’t remember anything else about that EP, and I could not get into the full-length they released last year. Mostly due to the unfortunately crappy recording. Well, now the San Jose crew are back with a 4 track 7″ EP on Give Praise Records. And sadly, it hasn’t brought me back into liking the band. The same weak recording is back again this time around, which is about as pleasant as the horribly cheesy and seemingly pointless “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” sample that starts out this EP. So, from then on BaB dish out 4 tracks of pretty standard metallic grindcore. I would almost argue that it’s too metal sounding to be straight grindcore, but that’s not really worth discussing now. The instruments are performed well, for the most part, but there’s just absolutely nothing that get’s me excited here. There’s not a whole lot of interesting riffs, or grooves, and the fast parts don’t have the “angry, clenched-fist” energy that’s advertised on the Give Praise bandcamp page. Hell, some parts just sound messy. Like the guitar solo section of the closing track “Wick Effect”. But, the biggest problem I have with the EP is the vocals. I’m sure vocalist Veronica Mars for probably giving it her all, but ironically, it’s kinda not really a good thing here. It sounds like her throat’s being shredded up, and not in a good way. There’s just no aggressive “umpf” that I look for in heavy vocals. Sorry, Buried At Birth, maybe next time you’ll win me over.