Rareform

Minnesota's After the Burial are a perfect example of why not to "judge a book by it's cover". Yes, the name sounds like metalcore garbage, but the musicianship displayed on Rareform proves that a name doesn't account for the music.

Being a fan of Born of Osiris's debut, I heard about After the Burial also being of the new "melodic mathcore" sub-genre. The fact that they play eight string guitars also happened to spark my interest. Just imagine the time signatures and grooves of Meshuggah blended with the melody and technicality of With Passion (without the over usage of sweep picking).

The guitarists in ATB really know how to write quality riffs, which sets them apart from most metalcore bands today. While I despised a lot of bands that overuse breakdowns (cough, Emmure), ATB have some well thought out and creative grooves going on here. For example, the breakdown at the end of "Drifts" goes through 3 time changes in one minute, as well as being difficult to even memorize. The solos/leads on this album actually contribute emotion to a song, rather than pointless shredding. "Ometh" ends with a trade-off that would impress Cephalic Carnage or even Necrophagist.

The drumming on Rareform is incredibly precise (3/4 high-hat for almost the entire durations of "Aspiration" and "A Vicious Reforming of Features"). There have been many rumors of the drums being programmed, and if true, wouldn't come as a surprise. The bass drum is too loud and a bit distracting, though used tastefully and not over doing the "we have a fast drummer" gimmick (Dimmu Borgir, As Blood Runs Black, and Carnifex for example).

As expected with recent extreme music, there is a huge lack of bass guitar.
It's a shame, because a band with this much creativity could excel further with a prominent bassist.

The vocals on Rareform are of mid/high range yelling, nothing new, but not bad in any way. On the opening track "Berzerker", there seems to be some kind of inhaled growl that almost ruins the section, though that’s the only time throughout the album that the vocals are distracting.

The production on Rareform is of high quality, and with stuttering breakdowns and start/stop riffing, it should be. "Aspiration" and "A Vicious Reforming..." have their moments where the cd sounds scratched, and while some see this as "cheating", others see it as adding a cold feeling to the song. The guitar tone reminds me of Necrophagist with actual distortion, with every note coming through clearly and audible.

Be weary though, as After the Burial isn't a melodic death metal band or a trendy deathcore outfit, but more of a metalcore band with flare. I recommend Rareform to anyone with an open mind or a thirst for something new within extreme music.

Standout tracks: Drifts, Cursing Akhenaten, Aspiration, The Fractal Effect, Ometh.