Posted on: May 24, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

While Burden of a Day is a hardcore band, they seem to have taken the lessons provided them by current emo acts and on their “Pilots & Paper Planes” and create a soundscape that individuals will actually pay attention to. Previous hardcore acts would just focus on the vocals, drums, and guitars, but Burden Of A Day focuses on the interplay between all of these disparate elements. “High Noon” is a fairly straightforward track, but the precursors to the choruses is something that individuals just need to listen to.

The post-chorus (which has double bass drumming fighting with shrill guitars) is something else that individuals should attempt to focus in on. The fact that Burden Of A Day operates in the nexus of three different musical genres – metal, hardcore, and emo – means that “Pilots & Paper Planes” is a disc with split focus. Of course, there are times during the disc where one or the other genre is dominant; Burden Of A Day does the entire “emo” thing the best of the three. However, it is never quite as cut and dry as people make it seem; when I say the “emo” side of things, there are few times where both of the other genres retreat far enough to let the emo side shine through.

The closest thing to an emo-only track is “Escapism as an Art Form”, but there are metal constructs that insert themselves throughout all segments of that track. However, perhaps a longer look at this lighter style would be the best decision that Burden Of A Day could make; the hardcore side of things, while strong in its own right, does not shine nearly as much as either the metal or emo side of things. If there were changes made in the band and the “hardcore” side of things would vacillate between the hardcore style that is prevalent during this disc and a Righteous Jams type of style, I could be more behind hardcore as a formati9ve sound for the band. As it is, there is just not enough material in this hardcore set of influences for individuals to really find some common ground. Burden Of A Day cobbles together some great tracks for “Pilots & Paper Planes”, but the minor issues addressed in this review should be checked out by the band before going forward with their next album. This is still an act that is well above-average, so give this disc a listen!

Top Tracks: High Noon, Ashes to Ashes

Rating: 5.2/10

Burden Of A Day – Pilots & Paper Planes / 2006 Blood & Ink / 12 Tracks / http://www.burdenofaday.com / http://www.bloodandinkrecords.com / Reviewed 10 July 2006

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