Search - Burnt By the Sun :: Burnt By the Sun

If only

aphexin | Snobtown, Elitistville | 08/14/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"BANG. This quick little EP is over in nine minutes and you wonder where your eardrums went. You bend over to search for them on the floor, but as you do, your nose begins to bleed. Suddenly your stomach feels a trifle off kilter as the carpet begins to swim in front of your eyes. Your hands tingle as the sensation in your feet floats away. If you didn't know any better, you'd swear that there were fish hooks in your lungs pulling in opposite directions. Air becomes sparse as your eyes dart in a futile attempt to locate escape. You would stand up, but your spine has been removed. Your flaccid body flops to the ground as vultures begin to land on your windowsill. Ants start a pathway to the tender spots of your face. It's over now. In just nine minutes, you have been eviscerated by five guys from Jersey. And it only cost six bucks.
It's amazing that the same band who recorded this EP went on to make the debacle of the full length known as "Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution". I love Burnt by the Sun, but this EP just wipes the floor with the full length. But, this review isn't for trashing "Soundtrack..". Anyway, this EP was released in August of 2001, not 2002 as it is stated above. These four songs will decimate any preconceived notions one might have of noise core. The guitars rage in an oil-sheened slickness that slices with precision and dices with pretension. Everything flows with ease, yet still sounds like absolute insanity. The vocals are impenetrable; try and follow along with the lyric sheet and you will get lost in a haze of aural antagonism. I can't say enough about the veneer BBTS painted in my mind for the full length with this EP, but as I said, "Soundtrack..." should be used as a coaster. Play it safe and stick with this. "Soundtrack..." is terrible. Did I mention to get this instead?"

Woo-hoo, noise!

Wheelchair Assassin | The Great Concavity | 10/10/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Burnt By The Sun's self-titled EP is loud, abrasive, and extremely difficult to listen to. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Along with the Dillinger Escape Plan, these guys manage to take the idea of noise as music to a whole new level. This CD may only contain four songs and clock in a eight and a half minutes, but rest assured it's eight a half quality minutes. Burnt By The Sun offers up one crashing volley of sound after another, with riffs and drumbeats mutating constantly for one of the most unpredictable and unsettling listens you can find. From the first note, opening track "Buffy" takes off at breakneck speed, and the EP doesn't afford you a moment's rest from then on. Each song is carefully crafted for maximum insanity, with Michael Olender's impossibly harsh vocals complementing the band's airtight, unrelenting musical assault. The first time I heard this CD I was stunned by its immediacy and flat-out heaviness, but subsquent listens have revealed new layers of complexity that were obscured at first by all the craziness on the surface. These guys definitely know exactly what they're doing, a fact that was only confirmed by their excellent full-length debut "Soundtrack To The Personal Revolution." Apparently they have a new album out now, so I'll have to pick that one up as well. A few other (somewhat) similar bands to check out if you haven't already: Meshuggah, Converge, Lamb Of God, Strapping Young Lad, and the aforementioned Dillinger Escape Plan."