Burst

Following up their wonderful and criminally neglected debut album is no small task, but Sweden’s Burst (featuring ex-Nasum bassist Jesper Liverod) have delivered the goods in a massive way. Prey on Life is a unique and peerless album that takes the epic despair of bands like Isis and Neurosis, packs it down into a more accessible format, and adds on a touch of melody and smatterings of speedy moments to create an immensely rewarding listening experience. The album swells and dips in ways that will seem shocking compared to the linear nature of most metal albums. Songs like the devastating "Rain” and "Visionary” are examples of why this album is heading straight towards the top of the year-end charts. After a listen or two it will become apparent that this is the result of what we’ve always been after: extreme music, emotional catharsis and great, memorable songs. The new album uses melodies and emotion not usually heard in extreme metal. Jesper Liverod: That’s definitely very important to us. As much as we like the abrasiveness and harshness of heavier stuff, it’s important for us to try to display those emotions that we’re after with melodies. But you don’t have to have melodies to display emotion. Grindcore can be emotional too. We have lots of anger and aggression but also try to incorporate other aspects of what we’re about as human beings. Prey on Life is also very visual. How important is the artwork to you? I think the artwork goes hand in hand with the way we feel about music. It’s just trying to get away from the generic side of things and just go with what you actually feel instead of what you think might fit or you know, what would be metal.