(((((OPENmind/SATURATEDbrain))))): TIME TO BURN

Sunday, 29 October 2023

TIME TO BURN

Band: TIME TO BURN
Genres: Punk / Hardcore / Post-Hardcore / Metal / Metallic Hardcore / Screamo / Skramz / Experimental

Related artists: Brighton, Jin Baker, Jean Jean, Sure, Ghoster, Dawnshape, Kid North, Painting By Numbers, Radius System, Every Reason To..., HKY, Huata, and Subterraen.
Country: Paris FRANCE
Years Active: 2003-2008 / 2016
For fans of: Shora, Sine Nomine, Tempest, Knut, Cassilis, Llynch, (early) Botch, (early) Devil Sold His Soul, and Akimbo.

Label(s): Self Released / Basement Apes Industries / Radar Swarm / Slow Death

Sometime late 2022 someone posted TIME TO BURN somewhere (I think a friend added it to my screamo music video playlist) and I finally stumbled, hella late I might add, onto this absolutely ferocious French four-piece with dueling guitars, poignant chaos, and fantastic screaming. How in the actual fuck did I miss this? We can't blame geography as I've been into Daitro (from France) for over two decades. The style isn't one I just happened upon recently either, as I've been all over this frantic, screamy metallic/hardcore for just as long. Y'know what? Who gives a shit. This band fucking slayed and their entire discography is worth your time, especially if you like the sheer intensity and lunacy of bands like Shora and Sine Nomine.

In 2004, just a year after the band's inception, they released their debut EP 'Burn the Lie Down'. These four songs are really sick and show the band's identity immediately...before they blow up that brain of yours. All songs are very most representative of the band's sound, but five-minute bangers "Lyksyr" and "Trauma" are my choices for strongest cuts. The former layers atmospheric post-hardcore amidst the destruction and lengthy/sustained screams while the latter lays down some seriously epic shit bursting with vigor.

Just a year after they released their most chaotic album, titled 'Starting Point'. This thing fucking owns. The momentum this album is able to generate and subsequently prolong is astounding, and definitely gives me Sine Nomine vibes in the that department (as well as a few others). The harrowing, primal screams on this release are phenomenal and definitely bare resemblance to Shora and early Cassilis. Following a dark instrumental intro the album digs itself in with "Lost In Poetic Words", a dangerous three-and-a-half minute deluge through swirling/driving instrumentals and those aforementioned glorious screams. This is followed by the absolutely unhinged carnage that is "Jelly Roll" which clutches to prodigious and imposing riffs over speed and chaos, complete with a desperate, nightmarish unraveling of a conclusion. Title track "Starting Point" is next and follows a more streamlined approach than the preceding song, opting for big riffs and an avalanche of vocals interspersed with panic-inducing mayhem. Speaking of mayhem, no song is more of a punch in the face than "Waiting For The End" which clocks in at only 2:26 and is a literal steamroller stuck on fast-forward. Capping off the album are two more songs, "Burn The Lie Down" which I would assume was written around the time of their previous EP and is another fucking banger that would have me running around if I ever saw them live, and closer "Alma" which leans hard into creepy post-hardcore and reminds me a bit of Botch's "Afghamistam" during it's first half and an instrumental version of TIME TO BURN for it's remainder. Woot woot what a record!

Next up is the equally awesome and more experimental 'Is.Land' full length. After another intro song "Is" we are met head-on with "Nayeli", a helluva headbanger with mad groove and even better shrieking...like, fuck me I wish I could scream like that. It sounds like his poisonous emanations reverberate in an echo chamber for a few years before finally escaping his mouth. The song itself owes a bit more to sludge and dynamics than speed, ferocity, and chaos, which can applied to the album in general. "Emma Peel" is a slower burn at 7:15 but definitely pays off, and this also includes the first clean singing from the band and in all honesty it fits so damn well. Not only that, but the vocals are actually quite good, and when coupled with the keys come 4:20 the atmosphere of it all has a tight gravitational pull. This clean singing unites again with posty perfection in the closing song "Land" which has early Devil Sold His Soul as well as obvious Deftones vibes. Following an eerie intro, "Tormenta" brings back the chaos from the previous album and gets straight up ridiculous at 1:30, holy fuuuuuuck this song is amazing. The ambient interlude "." is next and the rockin' instrumental "Isle Of Men" follows that. Then we're back in annihilation nation with the brooding "Tsering Lhamo" (good lord, those screams!), relatively short "Sang", and the almost Celeste/Hexis-esque "Gream".

In 2008 the band also tossed up their two comp tracks as a "B-Sides" EP, with "Candle In Wind" coming out in 2008 on the 3xCD 'Falling Down' comp and "Elena Djinn" seeing the light of day two years later on the second 'Falling Down II' comp, this time on 2xCD. I don't know the info on when these were recorded but I would assume during the 'Is.Land' sessions. Both are decent tracks with the former blazing through 2:26 and the latter having a slow start but ravenous conclusion.

Wow, I haven't done a track-by-track review in some time, but goddamn this band was worth it.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2004 - Burn the Lie Down EP (stream/donate/download here)

2005 - Starting Point cdLP (stream/donate/download here)

2007 - Is.Land cd/12"LP (stream/donate/download here)

2008 - B-Sides digitalEP (stream/donate/download here)

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(2007) TIME TO BURN - "Nayeli" (from 'Is.Land') official music video

https://youtu.be/D6PSgaCx7RU