Bury Your Dead
Cover Your Tracks
Victory Records

I was shocked to learn that Victory had actually signed a hardcore band. They had gone in a direction where emo or Screamo were the preferred sound. And then Bury Your Dead comes into the fray and they release "Cover Your Tracks."

As has been the complaint in hardcore for some time, Bury Your Dead follow the simple formula of two step part, Chorus into breakdown, repeat, and then at times accompanied by a very heavy breakdown for the bridge... And that my friends is a hardcore song in a nutshell. Bury Your Dead do this in just about every song. But can you blame them, This is what they've done from the beginning. So it's not that they are unoriginal in their song making, they are just following the trend of the times.

It's clearly obvious that the band is heavily influenced by fellow Connecticut heroes Hatebreed, as their sound is just as bruising and crushing, but I'll admit it's missing something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something is lacking on this CD that just makes me frown.

The coolest aspect to the CD is a gimmick, every song title is named after Tom Cruise movies. My personal favorite movie and song on here is "The Outsiders." The layout is key to this release as its focused on an early century Gangster feel. With all band members in pinstriped suits and two-toned shoes.

My other gripe is the fact that the last song on the album is something that has been released 3 times now. Entitled "Losin' it," the lyrics of the song are simply "Bury your fucking dead" over and over again. On their demo that came out 2 years ago, it had the same song and different title. And then on their previous EP they had the same song and yet again different title. It's just not original to release the same basic thing over and over again.

And for the record, the only band that can say it's name in a song is VOD, and that's because they're VOD.

If you're looking for something different in hardcore, this is definitely not the release for you. But if you like routine and formula-based hardcore where every song has the same structure, this is for you.

Reviewed by: Chris Buehler
Reviewed on: January 4, 2005