Customer Reviews

Beauty and the Breakdown

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Due to the recent popularity resurgence of heavy metal (particularly hardcore influenced metal), a number of cool bands have kind of slipped through the cracks and are unjustifiably dismissed as being an untalented Johnny-come-lately. Consider Bury Your Dead: there are several other mosh/hardcore groups out there today and some of them are fairly popular, so bands like this one are sometimes passed off as a poor man's Hatebreed. But BYD should be (and probably will become) quite a bit more popular, because this genre has many loyal fans, and "Beauty And The Breakdown" (the Boston-based quintet's junior release) is actually very good. The musicianship and songwriting on display here are, while not awe-inspiring, completely solid and professional. The songs ooze with blistering guitars and cement-block-to-your-head drums which accumulate to produce catchy, brutal rhythms. And, of course, the songs are made complete when straight-from-the-gut (though generic) vocals and powerful, well-placed breakdowns are added. Album highlights are the super-heavy, churning rhythms on the two opening tracks ("House Of Straw" and "A Glass Slipper"), the explosive, bulldozing "The Poison Apple," the rapid power chords and propulsive, driving double bass work which fuels "A Wishing Well," and the door closing "House Of Brick," which sounds like a waterfall spewing...uh...bricks. Ultimately, "BATB" is nothing you haven't heard before, but that's a small price to pay for the immense levels of great energy and brute force found here.

Also the title of an awesome Haunted song, Bury Your Dead is back again. i always thought that cover your tracks didn't get the praise it deserved, I must have listened to that album 100 times it was quite simple and repetitive but I freakin loved it mostly because it delivered the raw brutality that I crave. I also thought that naming all of their songs after Tom Cruise movies was a cool idea having grown up watching Tom's ridiculous yet entertaining drivel throughout my childhood. Their follow up Beauty and the Breakdown is just as brutal and focused. I'm not sure how I feel about the title and the concept, but the songs are better written and the production is twice as good. Refraining from all the bells and whistles of most of todays attempts at metal brutality, Bury Your Dead stays true to their style with no appologies. Great work guys don't ever change.

Bury your dead are baco with their fourth album, "Beauty and the breakdown". Sort of a concept album in the very loosest term, the booklet for the story tells a "fairytale" about a corrupt king. This album is just as heavy and brutal as the previous three, except the band experiments just a little bit with keyboards on a couple tracks on here, but they make it work . A very good album from a very good band

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, in my over 1200 CD collection that touches this disc in terms of loin-lashing heaviness. I bought the album back when it came out years ago, and am still stunned by the heaviness that it brings. It is still in my car's disc changer.

No one breaks it down like BYD does on this album. No one creates the wall of sound that BYD can. How a band, in such a everybody-sounds-the-same genre, can sound so different is astonishing.

This album deserves every bit of the 5 stars that I am giving it, and in terms of my metal favorites of all time, I put it up there with legendary albums like Master of Puppets and Reign in Blood. If I was a US Army general, I would hand out mp3 players that played this album on loop to every soldier.

Beauty And The Breakdown is my favorite cd of the last five years. I can listen to this whole album 24 hours straight. This cd has even put me to sleep. So far i think this cd is there best work, and I think the best Bury Your Dead will ever make. I wasn't happy that Mat Bruso left in early 2007, but that didn't stop me from listening to this cd. Since they got a new vocalist I haven't gave up on them because of how much I can listen to there albums, no matter who is doing vocals all of there cd's are amazing, but this one for sure in my heart will always be my favorite. It has made good and bad memories along the way. I was only 15 when the album came out, and has done alot for me in the three years the album has been out. Thanks Bury Your Dead for all the good and bad times.

This is Bury Your Dead's best work hands down. It rocks hard. If you like Job for a Cowboy, In Flames, Metallica.. hell you'll love it. I can't really explain it into words. Buy It. You won't regret it

Bury Your Dead's third full length album from 2006 "Beauty and the Breakdown" is just an all out heavy, vicious, gut-punching, heart pumping, skull smashing, full bodied, straight forward hardcore/metal assault that is guaranteed to beat you completely senseless from start to finish. About a year ago, I borrowed "Beauty and the Breakdown" from a friend of mine from work, and when I listened to it, I was immediately hooked, so I decided to burn myself a copy, and I've been listening to it ever since, and it has also become one of my favorite hardcore/metal cd's lately. The song titles on this album are named after and inspired by various fairy tales including Snow White, Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretal, etc, much like the songs on BYD's previous release from 2004 "Cover Your Tracks" were named after various Tom Cruise movies. Jason Suecof's production is just strong, solid, and flawless. The vocals by Mat Bruso are just excellent and amazing, as he just screams and howls straight from the gut with anger and passion. The guitars are dare I say just brutally heavy and downright crushing and blistering, and the tone is so heavy and thick you could just cut it with a knife. The breakdowns are very powerful and super-heavy, and the rhythms are just wicked and devastating. Mark Castillo does an excellent and awesome job with his drumming, I mean it's just heavy, loud and downright punishingly fast. I enjoy every song on this album, but I'm going to give you a look at some of the highlights on here anyway. "House of Straw" is an explosive super-heavy opener that features brutally heavy riffs, punishing drumwork, and brutal, commanding screams. The next track "A Glass Slipper" continues the aggression with more crushing, punishing riffs, and more brutal vocals. Track three "The Poison Apple" is another favorite that is highlighted by wild, violent screams, fast, full-bodied drumwork, and savage, blistering riffs. Track four "Twelfth Stroke of Midnight" is a personal favorite of mine on here mainly because it is highlighted by loud, heavy, battering, crushing heart pumping riffs, an addicting pulse pounding drum beat, and fast, wicked screaming vocals from Mat. Another highlight, track six "A Wishing Well" is heavilly fueled by sickening, driving double bass drumming and rapid machine gun-like riffing, and track seven "Let Down Your Hair" features more loud, heavy machine gun-style riffs, punishing double bass onslaughts, and poweful screaming vocals from Mat. Please read on for the song ratings.
Jeremy's song ratings:
1. House of Straw (4:02) - 5/5
2. A Glass Slipper (3:25) - 5/5
3. The Poison Apple (3:23) - 5/5
4. Twelfth Stroke of Midnight (2:05) - 5/5
5. Trail of Crumbs (2:41) - 5/5
6. A Wishing Well (3:26) - 5/5
7. Let Down Your Hair (3:13) - 5/5
8. Mirror, Mirror... (3:49) - 5/5
9. Second Star to the Right (2:38) - 5/5
10. The Enchanted Rose (0:55) - N/A
11. House of Brick (4:23) - 5/5

Overall, if you're looking for a brutal, blistering, heavy, gut-punching, skull smashing, unstoppable, straight up hardcore/metal onslaught, "Beauty and the Breakdown" is truly your album. This album is just perfect and fun to listen to, especially when you're working out at the gym, blowing off some steam after having one of those roughs days, while driving in your car with your buddies down the street, or whether you just feel like rocking out. This album is a must have for any metal, hardcore/metalcore fan, trust me, this is REAL hardcore done right!!

All the reviews for this CD are positive. That is how good this CD is. Such a big improvement since "Cover Your Tracks". "Alive" doesn't really count because it is a live album. Bury Your Dead's brutal hardcore heard on this CD is great. IT'S JUST GREAT! One of the best albums of 2006. Also check out more metalcore and hardcore bands on Victory Records. Bury Your Dead has done it again with "Beauty and the Breakdown".

First off, I typically hate metalcore. I left that style of music for bigger and better things in the metal genre. However, sometimes I feel the need to just rock out which stuff like isis, cult of luna, opeth, ect can't really provide. I was listening to sirius radio the other day when I head House of Straw and immediately started digging it. Well I purchased the full album today and let me say it is surprisingly really good. This is what metalcore is suppose to be, not the thousands of generic boring bands out there in the scene today. The album is pounding and maintains an unbelieveable high energy level throughout. The production is stellar as well. Which is refreshing since a lot of people in this style of music equate grainy and muddled production with sounding raw (Which I feel is crap). The production of Bury Your Dead's last album hurt the album. Now the album is one dimensional, but that is probably its strongest point. There is no attempt by the band to be something that they are not. Instead they focused all the time on creating just raging beatdowns. Plus the breakdowns in the songs are quite good (finally) and seem to fit in perfectly with the songs (as opposed to being just dropped into random places which I feel unearth is at times guilty of). Overall I find this album a lot of fun to just blast at obscene volumes while I work out, play video games, or piss off my roommates. Fun Stuff!

BYD delivers with this new record. I've read a lot of comparisons between this record and the last one, Cover Your Tracks. The biggest difference I've heard from the last one to this one is the addition of a small, tasteful electronic element more as ear candy. While I'm not into electronica metal (Nine Inch Nails, etc.) I think what they've done with these songs, such as effects in the intros. House of Straw, Poison Apple add a small distinction without taking away from the song's energy or overwhelming the band themselves. Mirror, Mirror... has a small electronic peice in the middle of it, but it breaks up the sections of the song nicely. The production of this album is better, with fatter, meatier drums and the band's low-end guitar sound. The vocals are more lively as far as constant screaming can go. The vocalist uses a 'broader' range of hollering that shows his growth as a metal front man. I know how silly that sounds, but none the less he does it. The band has a good variety of groove, hammering, medium and up tempo tracks. Twelfth Stroke Of Midnight has a pounding rhythm, while House of Straw, Trail of Crumbs and Mirror, Mirror... have sections that are reminiscent of Sevendust's staccatto syncopation inbetween trademark BYD moments. Overall, these guys recorded an album to be proud of. Take a listen.