Photo Credit: Nic Bezzinae
Bury Tomorrow are one of the UK’s most popular metal exports of the past decade. Offering classics like The Union of Crowns to modern day masterpieces such as Black Flame and Cannibal, their discography competes with the best of them.
Therefore going into any new album campaign can perhaps present pressure to continue to set new highs for metalcore. However The Seventh Sun displays a band that has recovered from the absence of rhythm guitarist and singer Jason Cameron, and continues to not let their music go stale.
“From the shadows, we bring pain” is as heavy a way to start any album. The riffage on display from Kristan Dawson and Ed Hartwell is as thunderous as ever, and serves as a perfect lead into Abandon Us.
Lead single Abandon Us is vintage modern Bury Tomorrow. Clean melodic choruses that stay heavy, whilst Daniel Winter-Bates absolutely tears it up during the verses. The delivery of “how could do they do that to us” sounds like it will be iconic in years to come, whilst the raw brutality of “you fucking abandoned us,” followed by one of the best breakdowns of the year, will give you goosebumps.
Begin Again sees Tom Prendergast come to the forefront, displaying his immense vocal talent in one of the best choruses on the LP, whilst Forced Divide shows a more old school Bury Tomorrow edition, which will be sure to tear up any circle pit live.
Boltcutter is like the anthem of the revolution with one hell of a chorus, showing the near perfect chemistry between singers Winter-Bates and Prendergast. Wrath’s feel almost seems inspired by tracks from Bring Me The Horizon’s Sempiternal, with the orchestral elements and synth heavy bridges.
It’s a new side to Bury Tomorrow, and one that is very welcome. As is Majesty. The piano and cleans alone sound extremely unlike the Bury Tomorrow we are all used to, yet again the subtle Sempiternal influence is there to see, until Winter-Bates delivers some of his most brutal growls and highs yet, almost as if he’d been holding in it all track.
The first of two features, Loz Taylor of Sheffield’s While She Sleeps appears on Heretic. Despite the slightly cringey cry of “I’m going in”, his verse stands up and the track once again displays the immense guitar work of Hartwell and Dawson. The tapping breakdown riff feels straight out of the band’s 2016 effort Earthbound, it’s awesome.
Recovery? Keeps up the theme of exceptionally produced tracks in this LP, with Winter-Bates’ mesmerising vocal range on full display once again. Care’s breakdown is one of our favourites of the record, “We are living a nightmare”, followed by one of the cleanest guitar tones you’ll hear is exceptional.
Closing the record is The Carcass King, which features Cody Frost. “They call me the carcass king, I relish in death and the pain it brings”, once again Winter-Bates’ shines in this closer, although we’re unsure what Cody Frost and the emphasis on Prendergast’s cleans add to this. The chorus isn’t strong enough to be repeated as many times as it is, and it’s a slightly underwhelming end.
In spite of this, we love this record. It’s another evolution of Bury Tomorrow, yet their DNA is still as present as ever, Daniel Winter-Bates stakes his claim as one of the modern greats on the mic, whilst new vocalist Tom Prendergast makes as strong a debut as any. The riffs ain’t half bad either.
9/10
Standout Tracks: Abandon Us, Wrath, Heretic (feat. Loz Taylor)
For Fans Of: Architects, Bring Me The Horizon, Malevolence
Written by: Joe Loughran
