What happens when your latest album gets you number one in the Rock Charts, and seems to have found the finest version of your band to date? Well, you distil it. Instead of taking ‘Runes’ and making ‘Runes 2.0’ with experimental bells and whistles, ‘Earthbound’ digs a little deeper, with ten tracks bursting with pure Bury Tomorrow.
‘The Eternal’ wastes no time in diving into their ferocity and ‘Last Light’ follows with a layered wonder of guitars and a chorus that bigger than the venues they reside in. The title-track is just massive, ‘301’ brings Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta in for vocal support, and ‘Bloodline’ goes from mosh to sleek guitar solos in a split farewell. They thrash, they soar, they just work – in whacking this mantra across the whole album, there are few that are notably different. That’s not to say there are no stand outs, but there’s nothing so out there as to be a weakness bar an occasional odd fade here or there. That may be its main drawback, if experimenting whets the appetite, but it’s also the reason it’s so strong across the board.
