“Raw no frills, goat worshipping Black Metal”  Ooh yes please Black Phillip – let’s live deliciously .

Manchester’s Burial are celebrating their 15th year by signing with Apocalyptic Witchcraft and conjuring up “Satanic Upheaval” a platter of raw, visceral, unholy treats .

This is no slow drip occultism but rather razor-sharp guitars and necromantic screams in your face from the get go. That is not to say that the Mancunians lack atmosphere as there is a distinct eeriness and sense of foreboding throughout the fast-paced melee.

This is the bands 3rd album and the follow up to 2016’s Unholy Sedition. The line-up features Manchester underground darlings Foetal Juice vocalist Derek Carley who also provides low end strings, drummer Dave Buchan and guitarist Richard Barraclough.  The musicianship and song-writing on this album cuts like a garotte with a magnificently raw unhinged -edge of chaos feel to each composition but contained like one of those bizarre slime in a net toys that kids always try to burst.

The guttural blast at the start of “Beneath the Filth” which appears mid album is like a slap round the face with a rotten oak branch.  The manic blast beats and frantic riffing typify the gloriously classic Black Metal feel of this album. The album is packed with grandiosity that would feel the cavern from the cover of Under the Sign of the Black Mark. Carley doubles up and offers some deep, deep death vocals on “Destruction Absolute” and they parry well with his unholy rasps. This is also the case on “Barren Lands” where Carley digs deep into his death growls to smother the big chunky blackened riffs beneath.

The title track begins with what sounds like a double bass strings being plucked rapidly before descending into a full-on claw to the sky orange squeezing anti hymn to the horned mythic fellow. These evil folk have real chutzpah and have injected plenty of passion and personality in what can sometimes be a passionless and sterile genre nowadays.

Definitely got my goat – in a good way.

(8.5/10 Matt Mason) 

https://www.facebook.com/burialtheband

https://apocalypticwitchcraft.bandcamp.com/album/satanic-upheaval