BURN THE MANKIND: “TO BEYOND”

 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the debut album of Brazil’s Burn the Mankind.)

This is a standout death metal release of 2015 that’s going to go largely unnoticed due to its appearance close to the end of the year. That neglect is rather depressing because Burn the Mankind put out what is easily one of 2015’s best death metal records, with a convincing blend of sounds, recognizable yet distinct in what that blend produces.

In essence, Burn the Mankind is Behemoth run through a Brazilian tribal metal filter. There aren’t ethnic elements, but the mood, production, and style of riffs, when mixed with the Polish trademark blitzkrieg of nonstop blast-beats and huge chords carries itself impressively. You can hear all eras of Sepultura represented here, so I guess we could also just say, “think Sepultura meets Behemoth in the most literal sense you can, with a Napalm Death garnish.”

 

 

To Beyond is a blistering, brutal, deathgrind minigun assault in all of the best ways. The songs are for the most part compact, although a few lengthier numbers do exist with sufficient payoff for the longer running times. The first four songs don’t even pass the three-minute mark, and the ones on this album that do barely do so, with the exception of two five-and-a-half-minute tracks and one six-and-a-half-minute number sandwiched in near the album’s middle.

The band are believers in that Polish school of militaristic meat in the riffing department, bringing in some much-appreciated dissonance and alien angular tendencies to keep things interesting. Some of the riffs on this record, such as the opening salvo of “Real Slave”, also have that Brazilian primitive savagery to them, and a complete lack for any melodic structure in favor of something simply messy and grotesque. That messiness and grotesqueness arises from a very Napalm Death-inspired reckless abandon combined with a very Morbid Angel-styled sense of atonality and vocal presence and tone.

The smoldering groove of “The Uprising” transitions well into the frantic bayonet thrust and subsequent intestinal evisceration of “To Beyond”, with an unforgettable central riff carrying the song. Everything else about the song is good, but that riff, combined with the way the mix makes the guitars and drums intersect, gives it an aura that feels distinct.

The ensuing songs “The Gun” and “Real Slave” are way less militaristic and precise, with more chaotic riffs and the blast beats slightly more unhinged and loose. These kinds of songs, as opposed to the more traditional Polish death metal worship such as “Everyone Is Blind” and “To Beyond”, are definitely where the band excel and feel most at home.

“Cries” is definitely one of the major highlights of this album, with an almost mechanized riff that would do Contradictions Collapse-era Meshuggah proud combined with some tribalistic bottom-heavy riffage and an oddly paradoxical blast beat assault. Combine this with some Sepultura-styled thrash and you’ve got a definite album highlight.

“Survive On” is also a fantastic sledgehammer of understated carnage and sets up the albums closer “Human Decay” really well. “Human Decay” once again channels a bit of Meshuggah, even a bit of Decapitated, and has the best solo on the entire album.

Listen to this album. It was apparently in the making for a LONG time, given that the band started posting songs from it FOUR YEARS AGO, until it finally came out in 2015. I’d say these guys put in the work to produce a pretty badass debut record. The recordings of “Human Decay” and “Survive On” below are from their EP with pretty demo-y quality. The rest are the actual album mix.

https://www.facebook.com/burnthemankind
http://burnthemankind.com/site/
http://mightymusic.dk/albums/burn-the-mankind/