Burial [ITA] – “This record is a very important one because it defines our new sound”

Burial from Italy is one of those bands who play their Death/Doom Metal in an ultra-heavy way with deep moist growls and compelling riffs. As mentioned in one of the reviews, Burial earned full attention so we fired a couple of questions their way… (Franki_boj & Ricardo)

The project was started by Leonardo in 2012, survived for some months and then disbanded until 2016 when Leonardo contacted Enrico to revive the band and publish the first demo “Burial” that contains the songs written in 2012. Afterwards the same year, Patrick, Ray and Andrea joined the band but after some years of rehearsal we’ve decided to bring back the band to his roots as a studio project with only Leonardo end Enrico. In 2019 we released the EP “The Forgotten” with Dismal Fate Records and soon after with Goat Throne Records. Later in the same year we released a new demo called “Presence from the Beyond” that leads the band to a more atmospheric and doomy sound.

At first the band was supposed to be more influenced by the classic Swedish death metal sound like Entombed, Dismember, Carnage, and so on, but some years before the release of “The Forgotten” we decided to add some elements from the death/doom scene trying inspiration by bands like Winter, Spectral Voice, Krypts, ecc.. We added those element more and more over time combining those with the Swedish and Finnish sound.

The demo “Burial” was recorded in 2016 at Leonardo’s home recording studio (Void Studio), it was one of his first work so the sound is nice but it doesn’t make justice at all to the studio and the demo itself. As said, the songs were quite old, they were written in 2012 and we’ve changed a lot during the years so we prefer the new stuff now but at the time we were pretty satisfied.

“The Forgotten” was also produced at Void Studio in late 2018 and it sound really better compared with the first demo. It was the first release with a label and the overall reaction to it was really good, the crowd enjoyed it and open us to a more consistent fan base that still support us.

Lets talk about the “Presence from the Beyond” demo, which was released by Dismal Fate Records.
This record is a very important one because it defines our new sound, the writing process started after the release of “The Forgotten” and we’ve added more atmospheric and doom parts to the mix. It was also produced at Void Studio and seems that the people really dig the new sound. For us is our best release so far and we’re really proud of it. The artwork was done by Manuscript of Death, the funny thing is that we’ve asked for a black art with a white background but it was delivered inverted so we decide to make it purple.

The main difference between “Presence from the Beyond” and “The Forgotten” are the atmospheric and doomy parts that we’ve introduced with “Presence from the Beyond”, “The Forgotten” has some of it but is more focused on pure Swedish death metal. Another important difference is in “Presence from the Beyond”, which has a real drumwork, played by Hannes from Dismal Fate Records and Sepolcro. “The Forgotten” has drum programmed parts that fits well in the mix but nothing is like having a real drummer.

Lyrics are written by Enrico and usually they follow one only guideline: to convey a story. He takes inspiration by the Horror Literature and Cinema, but he doesn’t despise the Videogame narrative sometimes. Also he likes to wrote he’s own story or dreams. Lyrics are an essential part to experience Burial’s work and that’s because music can express only one part of the overall emotional and atmospheric impact. Listening to Burial should be like reading a book.

How did you get in contact with Dismal Fate Records?
Leonardo knows Hannes from a while, we’re good friends so when we had The Forgotten in our hands, we decided to contact him to release it through his new born label. We’ve enjoyed this collaboration and we’ve also released Presence from the Beyond with him, at the moment we didn’t plan any new release with Dismal Fate but we’ll be happy to work toghether with Hannes in the future.

Covid-19 had a tremendous impact on Italy, did the lockdown influence your lyrics and songwriting on future releases? Did it give you, with all due respect, an extra source of inspiration?
Covid-19 had a really huge impact in Italy, we’ve been in lockdown for 2 months and a half but we’ve spend that time to write new songs, in fact we’ve finished to write our debut album that probably will see the light next year. The songs are different from the old ones, it will be similar to “Presence from the Beyond” but with a lot more atmospheric and doomy parts added to the mix, we’re looking forward to record and released it.

What are your expectations for Burial in the future?
At the moment we’re going to release a new compilation with Despise the Sun Records that will contain all of our releases plus an unreleased song from “The Forgotten” era, this will close a chapter, after that we can focus on the debut album and trying to find someone to complete the line up and starts doing live shows.

Some of you are involved with acts like Carrion Shreds, NecroCommand and Coexistence to name a few. Any news on them to tell our readers?
Leonardo is part of many projects like Coexistence, Vexovoid, a brand new black metal band that will be announced soon and a jazz/fusion band called Transition Quintet. Coexistence are going to release the first album “Collateral Dimension” trough Transcending Obscurity Records, unfortunately the Covid situation has slow down the releasing process so at the moment there is nothing confirmed for the release date. Vexovoid are currently writing the second album that will be quite different and more prog oriented.

Enrico is currently doing some live activities with Carrion Shreds, they released an EP called “Benighted” in late 2019, as well for NecroCommand which now is a one man band. He changed the sound, going towards the HM-2 buzzsaw with the new demo “Death Chaos King”.

Are there any bands or albums of your recent playlist you would like to mention? A rediscovery, an overlooked gem or an unsigned demo band that deserves attention? Any other bands of your region of Italy that are worth mentioning and to check out for our readers?
One band that deserve more attention is Cavurn, a death/doom act based in the US, also Gutvoid, Frozen Soul, Galvanizer, Cist, Caustic Vomit, and Black Curse are really good bands too.

We like to mention some Italian bands like Ekpyrosis, Miscreance, Fulci, Serpent Ritual, Macabro Genocidio, Tenebro, Morbus Grave, Sepolcro and Larvae.

Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts? Thanks for your time!
We would like to express the deepest gratitude to the people who are making this project possible: Enrico’s girlfriend Sabrina, his best friend Joy, the Coexistence and Vexovoid guys, Santi Demiri, Marek Vladescu and Marek Sadowski, Metalwinds and it’s chief Alissa, David Faggiani, Aaron Comos of the mighty Goath Throne Recs, Hannes Delbello, Andrea Cipolla from Despise The Sun, Tito Vespasiani from Everlasting Spew, Riki from Grumo, Samuele Scalise, Patrick Corti and Giulia Pettini, our two best supporters Dalila and Samanta, our buddy Paolo Incinerator, Adam Schnellenbach, Jørgen Sven Kirby of Nattskog, Nicolò Brambilla and the friends from Gutvoid. And in general those who support us around the world and have bought tapes and merch (and had the patience to wait for them due to the Corona outbreak). And last but not least, Patrick, Ray and Andrea for the times shared together and you guys from VM-Underground!