Buried at Birth - Buried at Birth

If you ever happen to talk to me about music and things get into vocal styles you'd quickly realize female vocals in hardcore are a quick way into my heart. It's not that I see it as an overriding factor and think the band "is totally cool bc they got a hawt chick who's into punk n'metal" but it's a great piece to add to an already good band. That said, anyone who listens to San Jose grinders Buried at Birth will focus on the vocals first and foremost.

Mixed higher then everything else, venomous and shrill, vocalist Veronica sounds disgusting in the best way possible (if you've ever listened to Poland's excellent Wojtyla you'll have a good idea of the vocals). Beyond the vocals, Buried at Birth have a very metal polish and heaviness to their sound that comes through in numerous tremolo riffs and chugga chugga sections despite their grindcore attention span and structuring.

Their latest ep, Buried at Birth, does well to mix rhythms and tempos with metallic guitar slabs and, of course, the vocals. "Pink Mist" starts with a very headbangable section that shoots right into a black metal riff and blast beats, highlighting the band's wandering gaze style-wise (the little freak out around the middle does well to break up the blast beaten onslaught). This is the band at their best, manipulating rhythms well and interjecting dynamically different sections seemlessly.

While I could ask for a bit of grit to the guitars instead of their super fat sound, Buried at Birth are quick to please with this too short  of an ep.