Scourge of Humanity

Gerunds, as far as band monikers go, are all the rage. Aside from Mexico's heartily hard Riding and Swedish rarity Rising, Holland's very own grilled-to-a-crispy-charcoal Burning fizzles and crackles out of its Dutch oven with secondary, eight track full-length nefariously titled Scourge Of Humanity, released on CD and aptly lengthy limited edition vinyl, to waning fanfare earlier this continuously viral and chimeric year of the "tijger".

Intransigent verb usage and mealy mouthed allusion, besides, the Stadskanaal formed quintet ups ante and game this time around, following rather unheralded 2016 debut proper blandly titled Nightmares, alongside cryptically named departure EP, 2018's The P.I.D. Files, itself a potential turning...sorry, "burning" point for these far-flung, long-adrift traditional bards, obscure authors of here analyzed furnace stack of elemental cards.

Once gloomily agitated, yet vivid and refreshing, synth conduction presages auspicious opener "Black Pope", wafting lugubrious sentiments of fellow conservative-in-output aldermen Powervice rise, chimney smoke-like, in a melodiously crunchy and raw, spiralling column of blackened incandescence which minutely instills eon worn musings on doom heavies in marbled vein of Saint Vitus, The Obsessed and The Netherlands' very own Phantom Druid.

Such similitude predominantly veers towards front lad Hugo Koch's wanly energetic and spellbound, albeit carefully enunciated, vocal delivery, whilst actual effervescent rhythmic end subsists in basic lock-step tandem with stoutly resonating, mildly muffled skins on behalf of moniker deprived members best recognized, not for their unpronounceable surnames, but wholesomely (g)rounded participation next to buddies' axe pa(i)ring.

Said fiery fretwork hits home. Like a well versed, chronologically wise scribe and metal mentor, hereabouts (hint: he digs the notorious occultic number "zeshonderdzesenzestig"), exclaimed in cerebral regard to Oceania's Galaxy, a considerably saner spell ago, one can only surmise the band mates are humble fans of their own idiomatic compositions..."as anything else is unimaginable". Word! Track structure mastercraft alters from one shredded w(e)ave to the next. In other, less ordained words, congruity is definitely not Burning's bailiwick.

In "essence" (which is French for "fuel"), it sounds as if steady evolution within none-too-public - socially cloistered or restricted - studio(s) yielded, over past few troubled years, hook-lined, choppily flowing foundation for each track. Hence, whenever these dudes touch upon workable, super sonorous riff work, simply run aflame with it, in the process churning out ambiguously pumped cut after cut, the obscured, clouded ashes of which can be surmised as pit borne culmination of Burning's, er, burning ambition (akin to classic Iron Maiden B-side, in nomenclature only.)

Peering inwards, various stand-outs include considerably shuffling, righteously wrung revolver "Keep Me Safe", which sees the Germanic armament evoking Koch resort to slightly slacker, snappy-go-lucky fulminations compounded, vehemently enough, by six-string duo's sling of a rabidly cajoled leads jaunt, in quirky contrast to carnival-esque, radioactive background riff-ery. Ditto for "LeatherFace", with its sordidly cloying chorus and triple-gained, masterful clout. We can even ascribe vintage Fates Warning, and maybe even old school Metallica festooned accoutrements on harsher fare which follow suite. Think of a bass swamped, conspiracy churned tumbler in "Bodyfarm", alongside eponymous self-title and thrashy-as-luck-has-it "Taking Out The Trash". (Gerunds prevail!)

There's no trace of filler, and if I remember correctly, Nightmares came across as considerably more unorthodox and esoteric (note how my first name fits snugly in latter adjective). Safely, we can state Scourge Of Humanity represents this North European heavy metal faction at its most level-headed and focused. Milder, not quite wilder, soupcons of fellow Dutchmen Overruled make vague and subtle on and off cameos, primarily in lead quarters. (Still, emphasis is given to rhythm guitar, with token besieging solos subject to randomly haphazard, smoke-stacked projection. Thankfully, these fall in the good old, vociferously cramped Victor Griffin camp.)

Wrapping up, short of imposing vicious excess word spew upon hallowed readers' minds, consider Burning's The Scourge Of Humanity soul sold archives entry worthy of advertisement and acclaim!