Inhale Exhale - Bury Me Alive

Artist: Inhale Exhale
Album: Bury Me Alive
Release Date: 10/6/09
Label: Solid State Records

With the popularity of metalcore in today's music scene, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find bands who think outside the box. On first listen, Inhale Exhale's Bury Me Alive sounds like a typical melodic metalcore album. The listener is greeted with screamed verses, clean singing in the choruses and plentiful breakdowns, but to dismiss it as typical would be a big disservice to your ears. The more the album is played, the more the small nuances and experimentation is evident.

One of the aspects that Inhale Exhale use that add depth is vocalist Ryland Raus' versatility. On many of the tracks, Raus' vocal range goes from deeps growls to mid-range screams, as well as high yells and very well done clean singing. "Explosions," more than any other track, is dependent on his versatile screams, as it is the only track without clean vocals.

Other parts of Bury Me Alive that will perk your ears are the bass in "Over and Out," the drum fill in "Fiction," the mandolin in "Better Her Than Me" and The Chariot-like chaos that begins the album with "Rooms." One of the standouts is "Better Her Than Me," which is made up of all clean vocals, until the end, when explosive screams hit you out of nowhere. The choruses on a number of songs are also very catchy, such as "Condemned" and "A Dark Place For Your Mind To Be," and will be in your head for days afterward.

Rating: 8/10 With Bury Me Alive, Inhale Exhale have created an album that will appeal to both the single-buying iPod consumers and will reward those who listen to and dig deep into the whole album as a work of art. Well done.

Reviewed by Matthew Alexander

Tracklisting:

1. Rooms
2. Did You Ever Have A Touch To Lose
3. Condemned
4. Over and Out
5. A Dark Place For Your Mind To Be
6. Intentions
7. Explosions
8. Fiction
9. Better Her Than Me
10. Thin Blacklines
11. An Era

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