Album Review: Bury Your Dead - Mosh N' Roll

Hey Myke Terry, no offense bro and no hard feelings, but Mat Bruso just handles his business better. Sure, you were front and center with mic in hand for two pretty good records in 2008’s self-titled and 2009’s ‘It’s Nothing Personal,’ but with Bruso (who last fronted BYD on 2006’s ‘Beauty and the Breakdown’), back in the fold, reclaiming said mic from your grasp for Bury Your Dead’s latest ‘Mosh N’ Roll,’ it sounds the way Bury Your Dead is supposed to sound – straight up pissed, hard-hitting and thoroughly uncompromising. Listen, ‘Mosh N’ Roll’ offers up a lot of quality tunes, roaring affairs brimming with piercing guitars that hit like a slab of concrete (‘Bluebird,’ ‘Deadeye Dick’), but the problem is, things tend to get a bit long in the tooth. You can really only listen to the same song once, and it’s clear that you can only stretch the same structure so far, which is why some songs, while good, fail to make a lasting impact, and eventually get lost in the shuffle (‘Jailbird,’ ‘Slapstick’). ‘Mosh N’ Roll’ also plays host to some inconsistent songwriting from Bruso, and while he’s never really been known for his penmanship, those inconsistencies allow the good to cover up the bad (see opening bro-down ‘Slaughterhouse Five’ overshadows the personal, emotional outpouring of subsequent track ‘Nothing Is Lost Save Honor’). ‘Mosh N’ Roll’ wears thin after just a few spins, so you best prepare by dusting off those classic Bury Your Dead records in your collection like ‘Cover Your Tracks’ and ‘Beauty.’

3/5

‘Mosh N’ Roll’ is out now on Mediaskare Records.

Brian Campbell