“SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE”: BURY YOUR DEAD PISS ALL OVER KURT VONNEGUT’S GRAVE

Would Kurt Vonnegut have appreciated Bury Your Dead naming their new song, “Slaughterhouse Five,” after his legendary novel? I have a hard time believing he would. Vonnegut’s writing was punctuated by wit, imagination, and a healthy dose of wry cynicism; BYD’s music is punctuated by the desire to make breakdowns even more prevalent, and somehow simpler, than they already were. In other words, they are neither imaginative nor witty. Their version of “Slaughterhouse Five” sounds exactly like every other song they’ve written, except the riff isn’t even as catchy as some of their more tolerable material.

I know that lots of people are excited about this new material, especially in light of the fact that vocalist Mat Bruso has now returned to the fold; you’re gonna hafta explain to me in the comments section why you’re so excited though, just this just sounds like the same ol’ same ol’ generic metalcore to me. I’ve been told by people who know what they’re talking about that Brendan “Slim” MacDonald is a really talented rhythm guitarist who can actually play all this staccato shit like a machine, without the aid of in-studio chicanery, and that’s great for him. Now if he’d just take some songwriting lessons…

Bury Your Dead’s new album, Mosh N’ Roll, comes out August 2 on Mediaskare, the label where boring core music goes to die.

-AR