Album Review: Soulburn - The Suffocating Darkness

Metal bands are cannibalistic. I don't say that in the sense of a Cannibal Corpse lyric, but in the sense that it's hard to find new metal bands popping up that don't have members of already established bands in them. It seems like practically everyone plays in three or four bands, which is great for fans of those players, but not so much when it means every band begins to sound even more like every other band. The members of Asphyx have been guilty of this, populating their main band, along with Hail Of Bullets and Grand Supreme Blood Court, and now Soulburn.

The Asphyx guys have had a far better track record than most of the other band pollinators, but there is still a degree to which they have caused listener fatigue by churning out too many albums that have the exact same sonic palate. Soulburn is different, in this respect, by being a black metal take on the typical Asphyx/Dan Swano production.

It is still the same sound, from a production standpoint, which is expected, but disappointing. The blueprint Asphyx and Dan Swano have created is one that is a crushing death metal machine (even more so with Hail Of Bullets), but one that has not aged well, due to the number of bands playing with almost the exact same set-up. By transferring it to black metal, the flaws in the sound become apparent. The gain is turned up a bit more, but while it shares a common ancestor with the second-wave black metal sound, the guitars are far too bright and polished for what this album is trying to accomplish.

Opening with an orchestral swell, and then into the three minute ripper “Under The Rise Of A Red Moon”, the album gets off to a strong start. But not long into the second track, “The Mirror Void”, another problem rears its head. The material is easily divided into the faster and slower sections, with a discernible difference in quality between them. The first half of the song, with it's doom influences, can drag, but it picks up once the tempo follows suit. Doom mixes far better with the depth and heaviness of death metal, while black metal works better at a speedier clip.

The title track is almost catchy as the vocals shriek “I am evil”, while the guitars buzz away underneath. “Absinthesis” might be the best track, with a meaty riff in what I assume is the chorus, that uses the guitar tone to its fullest to create something truly heavy. It's a sound I wish the band would have utilized more often.

Soulburn suffers from the same affliction that I feel all black metal bands do; the realities of black metal. For all the frosty atmosphere and venomous anger that black metal can create, there are seldom any big riffs or vocal lines that can grab you and pull you in. The music spends much of the album creating a droning buzz in the background, rather that playing riffs that you will remember once the album is over with. It's a fatal flaw, because no matter how enjoyable the album may or may not be while you're listening to it, it's never a good sign if you can't recall what you heard once it's over.

Soulburn is probably a fun diversion for the members of the band, a way to get away from their main gigs, but it's not a band that is going to move the needle. There isn't much here for a guitar fan, or a songwriting fan. It's paint-by-numbers black metal, which pretty much sums the whole thing up.