BURN DOWN EDEN – Dismal

RELEASE YEAR: 2024

BAND URL: https://burndowneden.de/

Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, so that he does not reach out his hand and ALSO take of the tree of life and eat, and live forever….” So Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man, and east of the garden of Eden he stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword that was turning in every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life – Genesis 3:22-24, REV, emphasis mine

The German quintet, Burn Down Eden (BDE) is an example of a straight up melodic death metal band with adjacent black metal leanings (yet not enough to merit a separate tag). It is that rare find where both sides of the equation, the melodic (the beauty) and the death (the beast) are equally emphasized, howbeit both with almost minimalistic, if still catchy, simplicity. With two EPs and three full lengths spanning a 12 year career (of which 2 years they were inactive) they have independently released another EP, Dismal²⁰²⁴, on April 5th, as part of a preparation for the 4th full length called Dismal Epiphany²⁰²⁵ which will be out on Seek & Strike sometime in January, with the remaining Epiphany (never an officially released EP) gradually revealed single by single from August 15th, 2024. As for Dismal²⁰²⁴ EP, it is a good album, especially on the instrumental and executive as well as production side, however, it seems like with so much obvious instrumental talents we should expect better songs.

Burn Down Eden appears to have been founded by William Deacon-Säck (2014-guitars) and Tom Noack (2014-guitars) in 2012, but remained inactive for two years before independently releasing Memoirs Of Human Error²⁰¹⁵ EP followed by the first full length Ruins Of Oblivion²⁰¹⁶ (on 7Hard), at which point Pether Hantsche (2017-vocals) and Marco Schütze (2017-bass) joined the ensemble for the creation of the second full length, (the following two on Kernkraftritter Records) Liberticidal²⁰¹⁸, eponymous²⁰²¹ (featuring a pleasant to the eyes if provocative album cover I will address momentarily), also on Kernkraftritter Records, and, finally, the Sermonize²⁰²² EP, having switched labels to Seek & Strike, the line up completed with the addition of Warni Warneke (drums) in 2023.

Although the band’s name and black metal influence may suggest Satanic leanings, based on lyrics and attitude, I see something akin to the German melodeathcorers’ (do you like what I did here?) Heaven Shall Burn: disdain for the kind of false spiritual heavens or edens or paradises people build in their minds and hearts just to survive, unaware that they actually thus do more harm than good to themselves and those around them. Supporting my assertion is also the cover of Burn Down Eden²⁰²¹ depicting Biblical Eve astride Adam in a sexual, so called, cow girl position, suggesting, as some believe, that the original sin was Eve having dominating sex with Adam in an alleged reversal of the divine decree (which was allegedly for Adam to sexually dominate Eve) a euphemism for eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Interestingly, when God informs of (but never orders) the curse on the Earth due to Adam’s sin, He says that the woman’s desire will henceforth be for her husband and he will rule over her (Genesis 3:16) thus lending a lot of credence to the theory. In any case, just because someone questions the traditional interpretation of Bible verses does not make them Satanic; it makes them homo sapiens, thinking humans. And the lyrics to Dismal²⁰²⁴ (as we will find out), though hardly pro-Christian or even pro-God, dismiss the notion that a band named Burn Down Eden is Satanic. After all, Eden has already been burnt down by Adam and Eve’s sin of disobedience to their Creator God.

True, the opening track, “Reap The Apocalypse”, may read like an anti-Christian manifesto, even mockery of Christianity, but, to me, these appear to be words of an average sociopathic Christian preacher who uses religion to fleece his sheeple, something I am all too familiar with, especially with the attitude expressed by the words “you put your trust in me, you gave me all your faith, followed my falsehoods blindly, willingly became my slaves, I fed you words of wisdom, my cult will ever grow, I reap the apocalypse and leave you idiots down below” an epitaph for everyone who believes that religious proceeds should be state funded while tax free and that Christians are commanded to give tithe (10%) of all their income, and/or that either one is a New Testament mandate. The second track, “Death Of A Songbird”, is incredibly simple, probably the most minimalistic of the five, laced with abundant profanity regarding unidentified people opting for unlawful carnal knowledge with their mothers, with the lyrics unavailable (on Encyclopedia Metallum), something also true for the fourth track, “Aim For The Stars”. It’s “Blood Splattered Symphony”, with its title worthy of the poetry therein, that, again, on the surface appears to be a Satanic porn rant but could very well be an allusion to Jack the Ripper (by some 2014 claims identified as a 23-year old Jewish immigrant from Central Europe named Aaron Kosminski), un unidentified self-righteous gruesome serial killer of five alleged London prostitutes: Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine (Kate) Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly, whom he would murder in such a way: a victim’s throat was cut, and the body was usually mutilated in a manner indicating that the murderer had at least some knowledge of human anatomy. Or it could be just about any other criminally insane “artist” whom the media and even the legal system deifies in order for him to escape accountability for his crimes, something that is increasingly common nowadays and very well portrayed in the motion movie picture “15 Minutes” starring Edward Burns and Robert De Niro or, more implied in “Blitz” with Jason Statham and Aidan Gillen. What militates against Dismal²⁰²⁴ or Burn Down Eden being Satanic is the final track, “The War Within” (Shadows Fall called and you know why), a dirge I can identify with on the most intimate level, my soul in agreement with practically every word as “eyes are looking at me, expect me to perform” while “the pressure compresses my soul, doubt and anxiety are growing inside” yet “I gotta keep smiling” although I “wanna vanish from being” for “if lithium and alcohol are what I always need to enjoy reality that doesn’t make any sense to me”. If “I can see the world’s colors shining so bright why does it feel black and white?” and why “happiness feels like a sin” (Satanists wouldn’t care) why is it “a constant war within”? I keep wondering whether there is any innocence left for “the world is such a dark place” from which “I can’t see a way out” yet “I don’t feel I belong anymore”. Are these Satanic thoughts or are these thoughts of anyone who is honest with the testimony of their five senses, their brain and their heart?

As I said before, I am very impressed with BDE’s instrumental prowess, 3 of 5 tracks deserving a 5/6 (that is, very good) score, although the structures are rather simple – quick fast sometimes melodic death verse and blackened to black faster melodic chorus with an occasional brief transition laced with great solos, all of which brings Kataklysm (Blood Splattered Symphony) or early Soilwork (Death Of A Songbird) to mind, melodically much better The Absence than they themselves recently are (Reap The Apocalypse) even if it’s Howard Jones Killswitch Engagesque. In “Aim For The Stars” I hear echoes of Sepultura’s “Subtraction” from their best album (if you wonder which one then it isn’t to you) and the profoundly moving (to me) “The War Within” is structured like, and stylistically similar to, Omnium Gatherum’s fantastic “Ophidian Sunrise”, plus, there’s an overall Peace Sells/Rust In Peace Megadeth feel to the solos in terms of both mastery and soul, all of which could have amounted to a better score but the good but not great “Death Of A Songbird” and “Aim For The Stars” (interestingly, both without available lyrics) bring it down to what it is. Let’s wait for the full Dismal Epiphany²⁰²⁵ album to see if the Dismal²⁰²⁴ EP is any predictor of the finished work.