Bury Your Dead has gone through several lineup changes, so it's no surprise that the band's sound continues to change from album to album. On Bury Your Dead, the group is still harsh, loud, and aggressive, but this time around they seem more inclined to experiment with melody and a sound that's expansive as opposed to the more concussive Beauty and the Breakdown.
Bury Your Dead is once again paired with producer
Jason Suecof here, so perhaps the shift is due to Myke Terry, who joined the group after the departure of former vocalist Michael Crafter. Terry, formerly of
Cassius, leads his new band well; his voice is not only powerful but versatile, moving deftly between growls and melodies and adding dimension to Bury Your Dead in the process. Where Terry goes, his band follows -- there are intriguing moments during "Sympathy Orchestra" and "Fever Dream" when the rhythmic chugging of the guitars gives way to the broader chorus. The music goes from claustrophobic to expansive as soon as Terry stops roaring and starts singing, and some of the vocal harmonies are reminiscent of
Avenged Sevenfold. Bury Your Dead is constantly moving, its songs driven by a pounding rhythm section, but it's not as suffocating as Beauty and the Breakdown. If anything, the band sounds more polished here, though the effort is not a flawless one. Bury Your Dead does slow down in spots, eventually becoming completely mired during "Disposably Yours," a song that thrashes plenty but doesn't go anywhere as it repeats the same beat, the same chords, and the same barked vocals. The album picks up again with "Fool's Gold," which opens with some layered (and surprisingly delicate) guitar work before unexpectedly plunging into a furious verse. It's a song that sums up this incarnation of
Bury Your Dead, whose greatest strength lies in subtle reinvention. ~ Katherine Fulton