Before a Burning Earth - Doomsday is Coming EP

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Before a Burning Earth have slapped together five tunes for their debut EP, Doomsday is Coming, and it's a decent first effort. The intro is probably my favorite. To start, it's slow, melodic, and a little eerie. Then comes the metalcore breakdown chugs and the band is off and running and, let me tell you, these kids can play. A lot of harmonic noodling displaying a good ear for melody and some heavy break downs that don't always take the easy way out with the one cord chug, a style that is far to common in this genre. Not to say the record doesn't have these moments, but they don't over use it.  The vocals range from spastic high pitch screaming to low growls. One major flaw is the stark absence of low end in a good amount of the music. It's definitely there in the breakdowns and there are a few bass drops where everything blows up in one heavy thud, but a good portion of the music is technical guitar trickery and the bass is not doing its job. It sounds like this is mainly due to the bass tone because when it's the only instrument heard on a few of the bridges, it's very weak and kind of tinny.

A great asset of this band is their apparent sense of humor. On the track We are the Apocalypse, they sample Darth Vader's classic line "I am your father", which gave this listener a bit of a chuckle. Their promo photo is the five of them dressed in flannel standing in a corn field holding various farm tools. What this has to do with anything is anybody's guess. Overall, Doomsday is Coming is a solid EP that should satisfy any fan of the metalcore genre.

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