ALBUMS THAT WILL F*CK YOUR FACE OFF IN 2010: AFTER THE BURIAL, TBD

After the Burial
TBD
Label – Sumerian
Release date – TBD

If 2008 marked the dawn of Sumeriancore then 2009 was the year it exploded onto the scene with a vengeance, reaching America’s youth via the Internet in a palpable and visible real-life way. 2010, then, will be the year that the budding micro-genre will be put to the test; which bands will end of being trailblazers, legitimate contenders in the metal pantheon? and which bands are generic followers, destined to be lost in the bowels of 2nd and 3rd wave micro-genre has-beens spanning the decades?

If I were a betting man I’d place my money on the former category for After the Burial, the Minnesota group whose 2008 Sumerian Records debut Rareform helped escalate the Meshuggah-inspired sub-genre from scattered local scenes to the national stage. While Born of Osiris may out-mosh and out-breakdown them, while Periphery may out melody-them and while Tessaract or Animals as Leaders may out mind-fuck and out-play them, After the Burial strike the best balance in the humble opinion of these ears. After the Burial have plenty of crazy grooves, chops up the wazoo and plenty of hooks to latch your ears onto, but it’s their ability to combine them all in just the right way that makes them stand out from the Sumeriancore pack. And they are one of the most razor fucking tight live bands I saw in all of 2009… seriously, seriously impressive for such a young group of dudes.

Watch for After the Burial’s second Sumerian Records full-length (and third overall) to drop some time in 2010, presumably (hopefully)  by Summer.

-VN