The 3rd full-length album from Dutch band Burial Remains is a consistent follow-up of 2020’s ‘Spawn of Chaos’, or rather, their entire discography before this record. Rousing Old School Death Metal where the riff and groove take centre stage, a given that many enthusiasts are already satisfied with.
And I myself am such an enthusiast; innovation is not a requirement, certainly not, nor is it a problem if the influences are very obvious, as long as it’s delivered with a certain conviction and integrity. And that it’s catchy in some way. And that last part is, of course, as subjective as the plague, but subjectivity is what VM-Underground excels at.
With new drummer Mark van der Hoek, Burial Remains continues to reside in the Fleshcrawl, Autopsy and HM2 corner, and with each album, they take a step up. For those who have heard it all before and rather yearn for an album that sounds like Luciferion, Darkified or Obscurity because it’s somewhat more original nowadays, then ‘Adversarial’ won’t convince, but if everything I’ve been rambling on about sounds good, then ‘Adversarial’ is a fine addition to the collection.
