Mechanical time is an imperial installation

1) Introduction
2) Time As Ideology
3) Time As Methodology
4) Time As Surrogate Religion
5) Time As Imperialism
6) Reintroduction
7) Time As Abjection
8) Time As Automation
9) Time As Commodity
10) Time As Resistance

Here's another instalment in the 'best of the 2000s' series. I first heard this band on a Relapse sampler which happened to contain some other rather excellent stuff that might be up here soon (Cephalic Carnage, Dysrhtymia, Botch and other shit I've forgotten about) and immediately went out and bought the CD on the strength of the 2 songs I head. I was far from disappointed!
Buried Inside play a mix of sludgey post-hardcore....at least that's what it sounds like to my ears, and although the riff work and chord structures might be simple and repetitive they're bludgeoning, break-neck and almost trance like at times. Encyclopaedia Metallum says they play grindcore but that's only really present on their earlier works as this release sees them sounding almost like Converge at points. There's melody here too, it's not all abrassive and punishing, with the Introduction and Reintroduction utilising a slower tempo and an almost haunting little riff.
Track 2, the first 'real' song of the album, kicks your ass, punches you in the face and then pisses on your prone, twitching body. It's hard, fast and brutal...but always engaging, the drums, guitars and vocals all hit you with a crescendo of noise after the slow build up of Introduction. This is a trick utilised throughout the album, peaks and troughs of noise, power and aggression and you are often lulled with melody and sparse arrangements before being bludgeoned in the face again. However, it's unfair to judge this album track by track, each song as an individual entity as the band originally intended this album to be one long track listened to in one long sitting so the full effect of their work, efforts and concept. Record label pressures or a need to be commercial or whatever the fuck happened stopped this idea so the album was divided up into manageable chunks for us moronic listeners.
A brief word on the concept of the album, the recurring theme behind the music and lyrics. As the full title of the album alludes to ('Selected Essays on Time-Reckoning and Auto-Cannibalism') the concept is of time and it's stranglehold over humanity. A bold and rather aloof subject in theory but the practice of it all works brilliantly. The vocals and lyrics seem to suit the haunting and also pounding nature of the music and when the vocalist (Stephen Martin) shouts 'Time is the defacer. Time is the devourer. The grand mediator of effect and the prosthesis to which we depend' at you, it's delivered with power and conviction. It's an interesting concept and one that got me thinking and it's not very often that a metal album does that any more.
I've rambled a lot, and it's pretty much a case of TL;DR but fuck you, it's my shitty worthless blog and I'll waffle all I want! To quote a live Frank Zappa rendition of 'Titties and Beer', "Stick it up your ass, motorcycle man!"