It All Returns to Nothing (Church Road Records) is the debut album from London-based four-piece Burner, and has been highly anticipated by those in the know, who have been following the singles releases the band have been drip-feeding since the end of 2021. And Burner are the latest in a long line of artists who have found a suitable home on Church Road Records, one of the UKs thriving independent labels for heavy music.
And HEAVY is exactly what this record is … a pure and unadulterated, relentlessly extreme sonic assault of the senses, from start to finish.
Opening with ‘Hurt Locker’, the record begins with a blast of thrashy Hardcore before dropping into a chugging groove. The fast and interchanging riffs will naturally draw comparisons to the likes of Converge, while the deep vocal growls certainly sit within Death Metal territory. ‘It All Returns to Nothing’ roars fast from the off with a pit-inducing frenzy of Blackened Hardcore, with swirling off-kilter riffs and furiously hectic rhythms, which morph varying exterminates of sound, into an impressive arrangement.
The drumming of Hugo Benezech is ridiculously good throughout, and continues into ‘Pyramid Head’ with blast-beats a plenty, as a Slayer-esque opening riff explodes into a furious rage, brought forth from the darkest depths of hell.
The production on the record by Lewis Johns (Svalbard/Conjurer/ Employed To Serve) is beautifully crisp throughout, and on ‘Struggle Session’, Burner’s extreme Hardcore style has a distinctly blackened edge, and when vocalist Harry Nott spits “Chaos … Rage!” he pretty much perfectly sums up the band’s ethos. With ‘Pillar of Shame’ they merge a pure evil Black Metal verse with a stuttering Death Metal chorus, before building to an epic climax, providing a stand-out moment for the first half of the record, before allowing you to catch your breath, with a short melodic interval built around a simply effective guitar lead, laid over a synth soundscape.
The second half of the record flows through ‘Prometheus Reborn’, ‘EF5’ and ‘The Long March’ which all kind of merge into one long dystopic cacophony, before Burner provide the highlight of the release by breaking the mould with ‘An Affirming Flame’, the first track to come in over seven minutes long. Making full use of the extended run time by allowing the exploration of a little more complexity in the depth of their composition.
The song has blackened riffs which melt into the albums trademark Hardcore-meets-Death Metal vibe, before dropping into a section with an intoxicating bass hook, where the first clean vocals of the record build with emotional tension into an explosion of epic technical blackened Death Metal. In contrast It All Returns to Nothing then culminates with a final flurry and a blast of anger with ‘Waco Horror’, which is done in little over a minute, leaving you pulling your jaw off the floor and your brain in tangles.
This is a fine debut highlighting exactly what Burner are about at start of their journey, and if they explore further the songwriting and style shown on ‘An Affirming Flame’, then album number two has the potential to be something very special indeed.
Buy the album here:
https://burnermetal.bandcamp.com/album/it-all-returns-to-nothing-2
8 / 10
ABSTRAKT_SOUL_