Bury Your Dead -- 'Cover Your Tracks' [review]

Bury Your Dead
"Cover Your Tracks"
(Victory Records)


"Cover Your Tracks" is the stereotypical Victory Records release from days of long ago (before the alternative-rock, "emo" explosion). It's hardcore to a T. Bury Your Dead's sound is eerily reminiscent of Hatebreed during the "Satisfaction is the Death of Desire" days, yet there's just that little something missing.

In fact, there's little to distinguish Bury Your Dead from the slew of other hardcore metal acts that have come and gone over the years.

Despite this fact, the band has crafted a solid, straight-forward hardcore release: 12 tracks clocking in at just over 30 minutes with most songs failing to break the three minute mark.

"Cover Your Tracks" is 12 tracks of in-your-face hardcore: throaty vocals, chugging guitar riffs, subdued drumming and bombastic bass work. Track after track unfolds as a brutal hardcore anthem, mixing in the occasional metal element (a groovy riff here and there with some crazy chord progressions).

Out of the mediocrity is one shining gem however: the pseudo-melodic "Magnolia." The guitar is just crunchy enough, the drumming is insane and the song has a crazy melodic hook. If you're interested in checking the band out, start here. "Magnolia" is the type of song that can make you fall in love with a band. And once you've fallen in love with Bury Your Dead, you'll be able to forgive the lack of originality and fully embrace "Cover Your Tracks."

"Risky Business" almost employs a similar structure, however the melody is replaced by a metal edge. The guitars come across like they were filtered through water but the vocals are spot on, especially towards the end as the lyrics, "You crossed the line from enemy to casualty the day you disrespected me," play over and over again.

From a production standpoint, the distorted guitar seems to be an intentional effect, but the drums come across as hollow at points and the bass unfortunately gets lost in the mix.

Also of note, the band chose to title every song after a Tom Cruise movie: from "Top Gun" (the album's opener) to "The Color of Money" to "Legend." Hell, the band even used "Losin' It" and "Outsiders," though unfortunately there's no "Taps."

At just over a minute long, "Losin' It" has to be the band's theme song: the lyrics are simply the band's name (with an expletive thrown in for good measure) chanted over and over again.

But it takes more than an interesting marketing decision to craft a good album. Bury Your Dead are worth checking out, but the band will have to work at actually making people want to keep listening.