Bury The KingsV

Two years of absence can kill off any momentum that a band has going, but for Melbourne trio Bury The Kings, it has only made them more ferocious.

Now, with their new EP V in tow, the band can truly retake hold over that title, with the five blistering tracks here going well and above the early potential shown by the act.

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The group wound up 2016 with time on the road supporting the super-heavy Semper Fi (rip) and seemed to be one of the fastest emerging new deathcore acts. One listen through V will remind the listener why it was that these boys were placed alongside some of the heaviest acts in the country 3 years ago, and why that sure as hell ain’t about to change.

Based on 5 stages of grief, V is as heavy sound-wise as it is thematically. You’re Gone opens proceedings with an absolutely crushing sound, down tuned guitars gurgling below the colossal roars of frontman Bailey Schembri.

V uses progressive song-structures to draw the listener in, and keep them there for the duration of the ride.

‘Bigness’ is clearly what the band have gone for on this EP, and by hell have they achieved it. Produced under the watchful eye of Scotty Simpson (Alpha Wolf), the thunderous drums and monstrous riffs are both tastefully composed and massively executed. Think a more linear Sworn In and you have the bones of Hurt and Take You With Me. The abstract placements are there, the gunshot rhythms are splattered throughout all songs and the atonal guitar leads lend an air of malice, but it all makes sense in a weird, wonderful way.

While Bury The Kings have well and truly mastered the ‘loud’ dynamic on V, there are signs of their more textually and dynamic potential at various points throughout the journey here that signal a sign of things to come.

Skin and Blood might offer the most linear, ‘safe’ deathcore moments of the record, but also utilises silence in a way that so many band’s miss. The same is even more relevant for closing chapter Goodbye, with Schembri allowing both his heartbroken shrieks & new-found melodic spirit to take centre stage.

‘V’ offers all things a good deathcore EP should; the blast beats, slams and washing machine guitar duels all rear their respective heads at various points over this journey.

However, unlike a majority of their contemporaries, Bury The Kings don’t rely on these things to allow the songs to have an impact. Rather, V uses progressive song-structures to draw the listener in, and keep them there for the duration of the ride.

It’s been awhile, but we don’t expect to see these boys go anywhere anytime soon.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Stage 2: Hurt, Stage 3: Take Me With You, Stage 5: Goodbye
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Alpha Wolf, Gravemind, Graves