ARNING TO ALL INDIE PURIST NERDS: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS OF A METAL BAND. NOT A HEAVY POST-ROCK BAND, NOT AN AGGRESSIVE PUNK ROCK BAND, NOT A NOISE BAND. IF YOU ARE STILL UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT THE ONLY TACTICAL USE FOR METAL IN THIS DAY AND AGE IS AS BACKGROUND MUSIC FOR WHEN YOU GET PUMMELLED FOR YOUR LUNCH MONEY, IT IS TIME TO GROW UP AND MOVE ON. THERE WILL ALSO BE REFERENCES MADE HEREIN TO OTHER METAL BANDS, BANDS WHO SCREAM AND PLAY VERY, VERY FAST. THESE BANDS AND THE SONGS THEY HAVE CRAFTED ARE AS "ALTERNATIVE" AS MUSIC GETS AND THEY RIGHTFULLY DESERVE YOUR ATTENTION. ANYWAY:


In 1999, the Dillinger Escape Plan released Calculating Infinity, a landmark for heavy music. A masterpiece of dizzying technical ability, violent vocals and unimaginable song structures, Calculating Infinity melded jazz, hardcore and death metal into something that was as physically devastating as it was original, and as original as it was influential. All metal suddenly became more complex and varied, with unthinkable time signatures and truly retarded guitar runs replacing blazing speed and gutteral vocals as the norm. In the past three years, such a large number of bands have made use of the Dillinger Escape Plan's formula that a new sub-genre has been created: metal-core, a rather nutshell term for an ever-expanding form of music. And while the vast majority of metal-core bands doom themselves by failing to build on the Dillinger template, there are a chosen few who succeed in creating brilliant, complicated extreme music: the End, Candiria and Burnt By the Sun.


Like the rest of their metal-core brethren, Burnt By the Sun is immensely talented and very young. Prior to the release of their first full-length album, Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution, BBTS had released a total of eight songs. Over the course of those eight songs, the band forged what would soon be their trademarks: an absolutely insane hardcore-influenced vocal attack, precise and pummelling guitar work, riffs that were ugly but incessantly catchy and the greatest drumming one could ever imagine. (Dave Witte, who has also pounded for Discordance Axis and Human Remains, is probably the most creative and frenetic drummer in music today. Whether playing slow, off-kilter rhythms or blistering blast-beats, there is a looseness and ease in Witte's playing that has never before been heard in heavy music. It's truly remarkable and warrants a tangent far longer than this one.) The songs were compact - rarely longer than two minutes - but always satisfying. And that is why Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution was accompanied by Kid A-type hype. No, you probably weren't anticipating it as much as the new Clinic album, but you were probably expecting big things from That 80's Show, weren't you?


Me too. I was also expecting the new Burnt By the Sun to be a manic, relentless exercise in volume and speed. But I was wrong on both accounts. That 80's Show is the worst program I have ever seen, and Soundtrack... is a very diverse, measured album that will take many of BBTS's listeners by surprise. Oh, it's still extreme - and very, very good - but changes have been made.


First and foremost, Burnt By the Sun has discovered the groove. No, these songs are not funky, but they do possess a rhythmic, linear quality which, no matter how complex the playing becomes, still moves the song forward. Candiria has always made use of it, Soilent Green have too, and their songs are memorable because of it. Rather than exploding in different directions for three minutes at a time (like the End and the Dillinger Escape Plan tend to do), Candiria, Soilent and now Burnt By the Sun explode in one direction, taking the listener somewhere logical. It's most apparent in songs such as "Dracula With Glasses," "Dow Jones and the Temple of Doom," and "Don Knotts," all heavy as hell, but remaining serpentine beneath the pounding distortion.


As a logical accompaniment to the new-found groove, BBTS' songs are now slower. The aggro ferocity of older songs like "Buffy" has been shed for the more deliberate sludginess of "Famke" and "Human I Steamroller." Will people be disappointed by the reduced speed? Perhaps, but those people should quickly realize that BBTS was never a grind or death metal band and have never forced themselves to be fast when they didn't have to be. These songs are memorable enough without blazing through every second. The riffs are magnificent; gorgeous layers of brutality that stay with you long after the album ends. The "vocals" are bludgeoning without becoming tiresome. And, man, this album is fun. If you're not tapping your feet, you'll be banging your head; if you're not tapping your feet or banging your head, you, my friend, are a snob.


But, snobby, I will grant that Soundtrack is not perfect. Two complaints come to mind after a number of listens. First, there is sampling of dialogue spliced into the songs. This is a tactic which has been done to death by countless bands of countless genres, and it occurs on two of the albums ten songs. A small misstep from a young, idealistic band, but seriously, all bands must stop doing this. A second, nit-picky complaint comes courtesy of the final song, "Rebecca." The song itself is lovely, a lush, plaintive solo guitar composition. But it should not have been the album's last track. It seems tacked on, and it deserves better than that. The song before it has a fade out that would have ended the album perfectly, allowing for "Rebecca" to be placed at the beginning of Soundtrack, where it would have been far more effective.


But that's a problem you can fix with the "Program" button on your stereo's remote. The only other button you'll be needing is the arrow pointing up underneath the word "Volume."