On disc: Burden Of Grief

 
 On Darker Trails
 
- Volker Raabe -
 
 


 
 Follow The Flames
 
- Mike Thompson -
 
 

Follow The Flames

(Massacre Records - 2010)



 
 

 

Burden Of Grief is a five-piece melodic death metal band from Germany and Follow The Flames is their fifth full-length album. Admittedly when I saw the name and the genre of this band I was expecting some kind of mix of Dark Tranquility and Insomnium but this was quite far from the truth!

Admittedly I'm not the biggest fan of melodeath and I can count the number of bands I actually like on one hand. However, judging by this album I think I may have to use two hands in future! This is one of the best melodeath albums I've heard for years.

Although the album does obviously bear some of the generic hallmarks of the melodeath sub genre I found it quite a refreshingly heavy recording with each musician really shining throughout. What this album doesn't have is the thoroughly depressing / melancholy feel of some melodeath albums. It is purely guitar driven with songs being catchy due to good riffs and solid bass and drum parts rather than overblown keyboard melodies. This is an album which is actually enjoyable to listen to throughout.

Also included in the limited edition version is an bonus CD containing covers of well-known songs like Aces High (Iron Maiden), The Four Horsemen (Metallica) and Valhalla (Blind Guardian). Burden Of Grief visit several genres of music with these covers and do great credit to each and every song. Certainly one of the better 'covers' discs I've heard.

Overall a fantastic album from the Germans. I look forward to hearing more from them in the future!
 
 










Mike Thompson


  
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On Darker Trails

(Massacre - 2001)



 
 

 

On their second release On Darker Trails the guys from Burden Of Grief show again their passion for melodic death metal. With a lot of fantasy they try to keep the melody line through the whole song and that does the album good. Even if raw growls and infernal riffing - check Cold Fire, Demonized and Stigmata - are what their death metal is like, but always with depth and a metallic musical basis. Okay, Burden Of Grief will never be one of my favorites, but for fans of the genre I can recommend this album. The quintet did a really good job!
 
 










Volker Raabe
(translation: Claudia Ehrhardt)

  
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