I feel I owe someone out there an explanation. This CD has lodged in my dwelling since August and that it has not yet been reviewed is no proper treatment for any release, good or bad.

It all comes down to matters technical, or, rather, it comes down to the fact that some folk have a hard time figuring out where the limit is and therefore forces the labels to do all sorts of weird stuff to the CD’s in order to try to copy protect them. That, in some cases, also becomes review protection.

In this case I received a CD I couldn’t play in full length on any of my CD players. Some of them wouldn't even start spinning the disc, others would do it with a really annoying scratching sound on most of the tracks. So listening to this disc has become a bit like putting together a puzzle.

You probably wonder why I didn’t say ‘fuck that’ and binned the wretched thing. Thing is; what I could hear, I liked immensely.

What Burst unveils on ‘Lazarus Bird’ is like a universe of their own, a soundtrack quite unlike anything else on the market right now. The promotional material that came along with the disc wants to create a kinship with the likes of Mastodon, Neurosis, Cult of Luna and Opeth, but I don’t really see an obvious likeness.

The five Swedes (who by the way have previously released four full-length CD’s, none of which I have ever listened to) are not nu, modern, core, goth or anything else of the stuff we get tons of in this day and age. No, they are more like the good bits of Dead Kennedys (I’m not a fan, but they have their highlights), Faith No More and…well, Pink Floyd. And then some metal. It’s rock and it’s not. It’s punk and it’s not.

It’s heavy in a screaming and chanting way, but it’s also heavy in a mellow way, and it has a good flow. All in all a wonderful experience.

Go out and try it on your own body. I have to find a version that’s not copy protected, that’s for sure.