| Burnt by the Sun's CDep alerted the hardcore and metal communities to just how potent a force the band would be. Much talk was made of the band's members (ex-members of Endeavor, Human Remains and Discordance Axis) and how the all-star line-up alone guaranteed success. Well, metrics and previous output aside, "Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution" is the band's first shot at proving their prowess via long player. While EPs don't provide enough material to fully guage a band's ability, the full length is a better meter. Often times, the first few songs of a disc will be hard-hitting, followed by a slump in the middle of the CD and then a grand finale. Burnt By the Sun's LP has no such slump. This thing starts crushing and ends with as much, if not more, of the listener's attention. The level of musicianship is exquisite. Controlled madness is the best description of the guitarwork. The drumming ranges from basic to blistering. The vocals are deep and menacing, lower than anything Mike Olender has done previously. While half of the capacity of the album lies in the music itself, the other half lies in the enormity of the disc as a whole. "Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution" is loud. Whoever spun the knobs for this thing did a marvelous job at creating a sound where all of the instruments not only work with each other (i.e. no one instrument stands out) but the overall sound is blasting. Put simply, this album is as loud at volume 10 on my stereo as most CDs are at volume 15. Not quite technical enough to be tech metal, not quite basic enough to be hardcore and definitely not any of the common metal subgenres, this album defies classification. This is the soundtrack to a musical revolution. |
