BURNING CREATION – Sea Of Dead Bodies

RELEASE YEAR: 2024

BAND URL: https://facebook.com/burning.creation5/

My native country of Poland had always been a vibrant heavy metal scene but, with the exception of Acid Drinkers, Kat and Vader there had not been many of renown until the day Adam Michał “Holocausto” “Nergal” Darski recorded the infamous Eternal Damnation¹⁹⁹² demo signalling a new wave of Polish blackened death metal (initially stricte black until the third full length Pandemonic Incantations¹⁹⁹⁸). I may vehemently oppose his life philosophy (Satanism) as much as he does mine (Christianity), but neither I nor anyone else can deny either his enormous compositional talent or the impact the man has had on the development of the Polish death metal scene (and beyond, but that’s beside the point), whereby we have such incredibly talented acts as Azarath, Hate or Decapitated, to name but a few. Having said that, even Behemoth themselves had been influenced by the American death metal stars such as Morbid Angel, Deicide or, especially, Nile, sometimes to the point of being hardly distinguishable from them (Apostasy²⁰⁰⁷), however, it must be said, to me, personally, originality is almost never a factor in my reviewing, always taking the backseat to how good the songs are.

Having established the above position, I have to admit that the melodic death metal quartet Burning Creation (which comes from my native Upper Silesia, Żywiec only 85 km/52 miles from Gliwice where I was born), sounds so much like Amon Amarth that whenever you get to their rendition of the extremely seminal Swedes’ song (of off Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds¹⁹⁹⁶ debut EP) after which, doubtless, they named the band, it just sounds like one of their own compositions, since, most of the time, they sound a lot like Amon Amarth’s first recording updated with modern production. Furthermore, the cover and image they’re projecting including the very we’re-Vikings-and- Norse-religion-is-the-only-true religion lyrics (which is funny considering Amon Amarth’s exact same criticism of Christianity) speak volumes on the subject of inspiration turned emulation. To each their own, of course, if they are sincere in it, however, it is very challenging, in such cases, to judge the music on its own merit, although that this is the debut helps alleviate some of the frustration. After all, Amon Amarth themselves had changed right after Once Sent From The Golden Hall¹⁹⁹⁸ and continued to undergo further (by some accounts questionable) changes throughout their career.

Let us, though, focus on the sheer quality of the finished product and that is, admittedly, excellent, from professional if imperfect production (which we will address momentarily) through engaging songwriting and catchy melodies with even several notable attempts to distance themselves from their main influence with more contemporary stylings of Heaven Shall Burn, In Mourning or Be’lakor (The Einherjers’ Return, Snakebite, Under The Fading Sun, As The Ocean Takes Us Down) to the excellent individual performances, Sea Of Dead Bodies²⁰²⁴, released last November 29th through Via Nocturna (after Never Dead Nation²⁰²³ EP on the same) is a surprisingly mature effort for a debut. Maciej Konior (vocals, rhythm guitars), Marek Klimonda (lead guitars), Piotr Czopek (bass), and Marek’s brother, Jarosław Klimonda (drums) know their respective instruments expertly, although three issues are evident from the first exposure, the first being that most-of-the-time Johan Hegg sounding vocals can get quite monotone even when bearing occasional Christian Älvestam (ex-Scar Symmetry) and George Kosmas (Be’lakor) overtones. The band is fairly new but Jarosław is also a member of a tech death group Catharsis, founding member of a melodeath ensemble Consumer, and thrash metal act Haures, while his brother Marek also Haures member and both he and Piotr are former consumer members (all based in Upper Silesia) with musician experience going back to 2010 which you can clearly hear on this professional recording, which brings me to the second flaw of this disc: the leads and solos sound so low and matter factly as if no one cared while and if they are played (the otherwise fantastic “As the Ocean Takes Us Down” the worst offender) which is a shame since they are really good, the impression which, in turn, creates (false) impression of tracks dragging on longer than they ought. And, finally, “As the Ocean Takes Us Down” is so adequately and fully ended that it should have been the true album’s conclusion so, if Burning Creation really absolutely had to include “Burning Creation” (which is not as good or powerful as the original even though the original was terribly produced) it should have been blended in somewhere within their own material with no one the wiser provided they stay away from the tracklist. As it is right now, while it doesn’t necessarily stick out like a sore thumb, it does sound like a bonus which it pretty much is.

Aside from the above gripes, the album is chock-full of memorable tracks with great melodies such as the first song proper (after the mandatory intro almost as pointless as the one on that severely disappointing new Machine Head album) “Eaten By Hulder”, the title track, “Under The Fading Sun” and the twice aforementioned “As the Ocean Takes Us Down” which really showcase the artists’ creative prowess. Unlike the rest of the songs, those four have ebbs and flows in them and variety of melodies, pace changes and riffs and transitions that (especially on the last two of the order) reach downright progressive proportions, and it is where I recommend focus for the next album on the quest to develop their own sound on future endeavors as flattery will only get you so far in life. In the meantime, powodzenia, panowie!