UMUR "Lazarus Bird" is the 5th full-length studio album by Swedish progressive post-hardcore act Burst. The album was released through Relapse Records in September 2008. It´s the successor to "Origo" from 2005 and for now (march 2020) it´s the final release by Burst as they disbanded in 2009 after completing their US tour supporting "Lazarus Bird". Burst lived relatively unnoticed in the underground in their formative years but when they signed with Relapse Records for the release of their third album "Prey on Life (2003)" things started rolling for the band and with "Origo (2005)" they further strengthened their profile and position on the scene.

In that light "Lazarus Bird" is actually a bit of a surprise, as it´s probably the most progressive, adventurous, and challenging album by Burst. There´s no compromise here, trying to cater to a more mainstream audience to gain commercial success. Instead "Lazarus Bird" is a statement of artistic integrity and the album pretty surely sounds exactly how Burst wanted it to sound like.

Burst were always a pretty adventurous post-hardcore act, and both "Prey on Life (2003)" and "Origo (2005)" are quite accomplished albums in terms of compositional sophistication and technical playing, but "Lazarus Bird" sees Burst take it to the next level. The 8 tracks on the 59:51 minutes long album average 7:30 minutes in length, and all feature many sections and musical changes. Burst are an incredibly well playing band and they of course execute the complex tracks with ease. The rhythm section is strong, powerful, yet organic, the two guitarists compliment each other well throughout the album with layered counterpoint riffs and melodies, and on top are the harsh shouting hardcore vocals by Linus Jägerskog. Burst started toying with clean vocals on "Origo (2005)" and that element is continued on "Lazarus Bird". Sometimes "regular" clean vocals and sometimes effect laden clean vocals.

While the tracks are relatively complex and the uncompromising nature of the material should be praised, I´m not so sure I think the band went down the best possible road on "Lazarus Bird". The tracks often lack the immediate aggression and impact of the material on the two direct predecessors, and at times Burst sound like they experiment with the songs and their sound for the sake of it, and not because a particular part fits the track. So while "Lazarus Bird" is certainly an interesting listen, and it´s overall a well played, well produced, and well written release, it´s also compositionally a bit incoherrent (ideas seem to come from left and right), and the tracks could have prospered from a more strict musical direction and maybe some culling. It´s still a high quality release though and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Origo" is the 4th full-length studio album by Swedish progressive post-hardcore act Burst. The album was released through Relapse Records in October 2005. It´s the successor to "Prey on Life" from 2003 and features the exact same lineup who recorded the predecessor. "Prey on Life (2003)" saw Burst signing to Relapse Records, after releasing their first two albums on a smaller label, and they generally received a lot of posititive feedback from fans and critics alike.

Stylistically the music on "Prey on Life (2003)" was progressive post-hardcore, which is both aggressive and adventurous in nature, and the basis is the same on "Origo" although it´s overall a relatively different sounding album to it´s predecessor. Linus Jägerskog´s aggressive shouting hardcore vocals are still the main vocal style, but a few more clean vocal sections have been incorporated to the material on "Origo", and it´s overall a more melodic and varied release than "Prey on Life (2003)". Heavy progressive tracks like "Sever" and "Flight´s End" are complimented by faster and more aggressive tracks like "Slave Emotion" and "Stormwielder", and Burst even venture into instrumental post-rock territory on "It Comes Into View", which is a nicely atmospheric track.

In the case of "Origo" it´s not really fair to only mention specific tracks though, as the album is cleverly constructed to be a collective listening experience. Great care has been taken to place the songs on the tracklist to create the right atmosphere or emotion at the right time and it´s a praise worthy effort which pays off in the end, when the listener is left with a feeling of having listened to a journey of creative musical ideas, which comes together as a perfect whole (not completely unlike how "Prey on Life (2003)" is also constructed).

Although the basis of the band´s music is predominantly made up of two guitars, bass, drums, and vocals, Burst have opted to include atmospheric keyboards to the music. The keyboards are generally used tastefully and only for effect, so it´s not an omnipresent dominant feature. "Origo" features a powerful, clear, and detailed sound production, which suits the material perfectly, and we´re also treated to high class musicianship from all involved, so upon conclusion this is a high quality album release by Burst. There´s not a single negative thing I can say about "Origo" and a 5 star (100%) rating is fully deserved.

UMUR "Prey On Life" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Swedish progressive post hardcore act Burst. The album was released through Relapse Records in September 2003. Burst showed great progress and will to experiment with their original melodic post hardcore sound on the preceeding "In Coveting Ways (2002)" EP, but "Prey On Life" shows Burst at the top of their game.

The music on "Prey On Life" is intriguing on many levels. First of all it´s a pretty extreme album (not death/black/grind extreme). The vocals by Linus Jägerskog are especially savage. I struggle to come up with a vocalist with a more caustic and aggressive delivery. This one is a blood cougher. Shouting and raw hardcore type vocals. The clean vocals, which Burst would start using more on later releases, are only featured briefly on the track "Crystal Asunder". The music itself is very energetic and while rooted in hardcore, Burst take that style and twist it completely into something of their own. References to acts such as The Ocean, Converge and the post hardcore pioneers in Breach are valid enough but Burst stand out from the crowd as something special because of the way they combine extreme aggression, melody, and progressive ideas. The two guitarists compliment each other very well and it´s seldom they play the same notes. The bass and the drums are technically well played and adventurous.

Besides the high level musicianship it´s the songwriting that needs to be mentioned as one of the standout features on "Prey On Life". Innovative and adventurous are two words that come to mind when trying to describe the music on "Prey On Life". The album is a kind of loose musical concept with a recurrent theme in the intro track "Undoing (Prey on Life)", the intermezzo track "Fourth Sun", that divides the album in two, and in the outro track "Epidemic". Picking highlights is difficult because all tracks on the album are of such high quality but the opening trio of tracks (excluding the intro) "Iris", "Sculpt the Lives" and "Rain" are simply outstanding aggressive and technical/progressive post hardcore tracks. Especially the latter mentioned is pure genious in my book. "Monument" and "Visionary" also deserve special mentions.

The sound production is powerful and detailed, and while it´s clear enough to be able to differenciate what the instruments do at any given time, it´s also raw and hits like a hammer. It´s a very successful sound production which perfectly suits the music.

"Prey On Life" is an outstanding album in my book and if you need an introduction to the more adventurous side of post hardcore, I´d strongly recommend that you make "Prey On Life" one of your first purchases. Burst have developed and refined their sound on subsequent albums, but the perfect balance between sophisticated progressive ideas and raw hardcore power on "Prey On Life" is something I dare say they will never achieve again. To my ears this album is a pure masterpiece. High quality musicianship, a powerful sound production, and outstanding and innovative compositions. A 5 star (100%) rating couldn´t be more deserved.

UMUR "In Coveting Ways & Conquest: Writhe" is a compilation album by Swedish post hardcore act Burst. The album was released through Ritual Records in 2003. The compilation includes the band´s 2nd full-length studio album "Conquest: Writhe (2000)", the "In Coveting Ways (2002)" EP, and a single from 1998 titled "Forsaken Not Forgotten". This is a great way to be introduced to the early music by Burst instead of purchasing the releases seperately. And pretty surely a much cheaper one too.

CD1 features the tracks from "In Coveting Ways (2002)" and "Forsaken Not Forgotten (1998)". The 4 tracks from "In Coveting Ways (2002)" are high quality material while the 2 tracks from "Forsaken Not Forgotten (1998)" should probably be considered as bonus material as they don´t exactly feature the same high standards as the rest of the material on this compilation.

CD2 features all tracks from the band´s 2nd full-length studio album "Conquest: Writhe (2000)". It´s a pretty strong post hardcore album with a slight progressive edge but the material are generally not as strong as the material from the "In Coveting Ways (2002)" EP on CD1.

All in all this is an interesting compilation and a very worthy purchase. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is certainly warranted and considering that the original releases are probably very hard to come by today, compilations like these are always welcome.

UMUR "In Coveting Ways" is an EP release by Swedish post hardcore act Burst. The EP was released through Chrome Saint Magnus in 2002. It was released between their 2nd full-length studio album "Conquest: Writhe (2000)" and the band´s 3rd full-length studio album "Prey on Life (2003)". All tracks on "In Coveting Ways" were re-released as part of the "In Coveting Ways & Conquest: Writhe" compilation album in 2003. On "Conquest: Writhe (2000)", Burst showed a lot of interesting progress from their original melodic post hardcore style, but on "In Coveting Ways" they are close to perfecting their more progressive post hardcore style and the 4 tracks on the 16:37 minutes long EP could easily have been included on "Prey on Life (2003)". Both in terms of overall style but certainly also because of the high quality of the tracks.

The music on the EP is still based on melodic post hardcore, but even though the roots of Burst music are in hardcore the 4 tracks on the EP feature experimental twists and turns. The two longest tracks "Scavenger" and "Paradise Regained" feature multible sections while the two shorter tracks "Black But Shining" and "Ars Diavoli" are more energetic and direct but still rather sophisticated. For example take a listen to the fast-paced riff in "Black But Shining" that is doubled by an acoustic guitar. To my ears that´s a great adventurous idea and a shiny example of the importance of details in music. The vocals are raw hardcore screaming/shouting and Linus Jägerskog delivers his vocals with conviction and passion. Somehow he is able to sound both really aggressive and melancholic at the same time. I was a bit overwhelmed by the aggressive "core" type vocal approach when I initially started listening to Burst but over time I´ve grown to really appreciate his aggressive vocal style.

The musicianship are on a high level all around. Burst are an incredibly well playing band, but that was more or less obvious already on their debut album, but on this EP Burst show what they are capable of and it´s quite a bit actually. Fast intricate riffing and a dynamic rhythm section are in addition to the strong vocals some of the assets on "In Coveting Ways".

The sound production is powerful, professional and well sounding. A bit darker than the more clear sound on "Prey on Life (2003)" but still very well sounding. Overall "In Coveting Ways" is a very worthy purchase for people into challenging semi-progressive melodic post hardcore with extreme vocals. The music features many similarities to the music by artists like The Ocean, Converge, and Breach but Burst ultimately have their own unique style. "In Coveting Ways" is easily worth a 4 star (80%) rating.