Instrumentally, Bury the Hatchet could be any other metalcore act. Actually, that’s not entirely true: the EP’s opener, the short, delicate title track, is a beautiful and touching composition for piano and strings. Consequently, the monster chug of ‘But We Still Keep Moving’ hits like an asteroid, a blast of petulant power-chord driven anger.
‘Protest’ is similarly agitated, looping lead guitar lines weaving their way across desolate grey postindustrial landscapes carved by powerful percussion and overdriven rhythm guitars: it’s thoughtfully penned and skillfully performed.
It’s the vocals, however, that really distinguish BTH from their peers. Instead of the conventional guttural snarl, Ray Hughes’ vocals sound like someone’s inserting a red-hot poker up his anus. Whether or not it’s a good thing is a matter of taste as he strains every gut-wrenching syllable through his taut oesophagus. Braying and squealing like a wounded beast, he sounds like he’s in severe pain. But he also sounds like he means it, and I’d take that rawness over contrived manufactured angst any day of the week.
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Bury the Hatchet Online
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