I was introduced to Burst through my local independent music store, disgracefully the majors were not stocking them, and within two tracks I was captivated. A blend of anthemic thrash metal and Hispanic influenced songs, an odd mix from a Swedish band I’m sure you’ll all agree. But that perhaps adds to this album’s own uniqueness; it does away with the idealology of what Scandinavian metal is about and allows itself to experiment freely while still being true to its original sound.

Upon first full listen of this album, it instantly struck me how this is a very intelligent extreme metal album; it takes influence from the best and shamelessly pays homage to bands you wouldn’t expect such a band to list as influences, while at the same down playing down that it is in fact an ‘Extreme’ metal album. For instance, this album resists using blast-beats to get its point across in all but a couple moments which is a very welcome change to the lesser bands that become dependent on that sort of sound. Throughout this piece, intricate guitar lines can be enjoyed weaving in and out of ear-sight, full of confidence and sounds as brilliantly layered and textures as say, Broken Social Scene. This is an album in a post-Opeth, Dillinger, Akercocke and Ephel Duath world which sees extreme metal become progressive, unafraid of its peers and full of confidence, and Burst absolutely relish in it.

However, it takes some time to really discover how inspired this album is. As a thrash metal album, this is still masked in some fantastically fast and frantic riffs such as the brilliant ‘Slave Emotion’ with its seemingly impossible high-speed thrash metal riffs which is full of buoyancy and leaves the listener simply stimulated.

You get no clues from opener ‘Where the Wave Broke’ about where the album is headed either, as this is a thrash metal anthem, if there is such a thing, full of hypnotic guitar riffs and fairly catchy scream-a-long chorus. But from there, the album is a dark progression into the abyss until the burst of energy that is the penultimate ‘Stormwielder’ and its phenomenal velocity and tricky drumming. Along the journey you will encounter ‘Flight’s End’ which possesses Dillinger Escape Plan’s recent take on jazz and salsa along with ‘Sever’ with it’s building layers from just an acoustic to a full blown 5 minute musical movement.

Most notable in Burst’s ambition to experiment though is the Pink Floyd/Mars Volta driven ‘It Comes into View’ which is the album’s darkest moment. It is a massive progressive movement with Hispanic influenced guitars, technical fills and samples of a baby crying and unlike Biffy Clyro’s progressive affair in ‘Infinity Land’, this works really well and doesn’t feel as overblown or unnecessary.

‘Origo’ is a stunning album with a refreshing amount of variation for a metal album. Finale ‘Mercy Liberation’ basically sums up all the listener has heard in the album with its slow build up to an almost punk filled song with aggressive vocals which remain full of distinction. It is essentially a flawless album and one of the best of the year, particularly in Metal which, mainly due to current fashion trends, has suffered tremendously this year. If bands like Mars Volta or Orchid are far too much for you to deal with, get this album and be amazed, it captures progressive music within the confines of an extremely enjoyable metal album, and in other words, a masterpiece.

Adam Turner-Heffer