Snow Burial is a sludge metal trio hailing from Chicago, mixing melody, rhythm and brutality into one package. Ostrava sits as their second full length album in a long list of projects, birthed from the duality of Snow Burial's life both at home and on the road. Pulling emotion from the successes as well as the failures, Ostrava is the pinnacle of releases for Snow Burial at this time, but with a bright future ahead, this album may only scratch the surface of their brilliance.
While the entire 9 track album is magnificent, here are a few spotlights that are a must for the album:
"Ostrava" is the title track, and it quickly becomes apparent why this song was chosen. The intro bleeds from the previous song, picking up from the acoustic guitar to quick electric triplets, building with the drums and the vocals. The song flows beautifully, standing as a perfect embodiment of sludge metal, the mesmerizing guitar pulling you into a trance as the gruff vocals paint the picture of the song.
"Gaping Wounds" shows that Snow Burial loves to experiment with sounds throughout an album, not falling into a repetitive and predictable formula. "Gaping Wounds" slows down for a few bars, letting the clean guitar resonate with delay, building on top of that with the drums. The vocals switch between the rough and the clean, providing another layer of depth and uniqueness to the song.
"The Unforgiven" may be last on the album, but it is certainly not the least. An absolutely gorgeous acoustic intro sets the tone for the song, fading away to let the drums kick in and steal the spotlight for a second. Not long after they come together the electric guitar and vocals are layered in, bringing multiple changes to the pace and beats, and ending the experience by getting your head moving back and forth.
If you only have minutes left to live, they need to be spent checking out at least one of the songs listed above, you will not be disappointed in how your last moments are spent. And if you aren't on the brink of death, grab your headphones and listen to the full album! Come on dude!
Members:
Ben
Brandon
Nick
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