Band:	Buried Inside
Album:	Spoils Of Failure
Style:	Post-Hardcore, Sludge metal
Release date:	March 2009

01. I
02. II
03. III
04. IV
05. V
06. VI
07. VII
08. VIII

This could have been a pretty good release. Buried Inside is recommended if you like High On Fire, Neurosis, and Clutch - at least according to the slipcase Relapse provided.

"Hey! Golly! Those are three of my favorite bands," I thought as I jumped at the chance to handle this review. I hurriedly popped the disk in the cd tray and with excited hands pressed the play button, eager to hear "I", "II", and the rest of "III", through "VIII"... Ok, so they aren't much for song titles on this particular piece. The repetitive title gimmick worked much better on 2005's Chronoclast. Not so good this time around on MMIX's Spoils of Failure.

Truth be told, the music was more inline with Isis, Pelican or 5ive(Vive?) than the aforementioned trio. They still strung together some pretty good tracks and I was enjoying what they were doing. It would have been a pretty good release. Based on the music, I would have given this album a 7.5 or so. (VII.V? not sure how to do decimals in Roman numerals.)

But there's that pesky "could have been" phrase again.

Why "could have been" you ask?

Ah, yes, the vocals.

First off, the horrifying howls don't seem to fit entirely in-line with the music, perhaps better suited for some black/death metal project. Second being that not only do they sound out of place, they are incredibly grating and annoying. Thirdly, and finally, they are way too loud in the mix. Frankly it sucks that all the cool stuff going on with the guitar riffs is being drowned out by vocals so loud and annoying they made me want to gouge my eardrums out with a grapefruit spoon. The band would have been better off pulling a page from the book of fellow Relapsers Tombs recent release, Winter Hours and mixing the vocals nicely in with the music, allowing it all to breath, as opposed to their actual approach which was basically like taking a nice steak off the grill then proceeding to drown it with half a bottle of ketchup.

The final rating represents the complete and final package. Musically, it was a pretty good release, unfortunately the vocals just really dragged down my enjoyment of the album. I enjoyed each and every song as it came on, just praying that it was an instrumental. So I cannot punish the music too harshly for the sins of the vocals, nor can I overlook, as much as I'd like to, the vocals and rate the album based solely upon what the band is doing. Would have been a 7.5 if the vocals were not so over the top, with them included, it's a 6.25.

If you are into that whole Isis/Pelican thing, I'd recommend visiting their myspace page and checking them out - the band is enjoyable enough, if you can get over the vocals.