BARK
BARK “Rambler of Aeons”
By Dr. Abner Mality
This metal pooch has a BARK that could raise the dead. The title track comes shambling in, a hairs-breadth away from going completely off the rails, and one thing is already dead certain about BARK: they are fuckin’ LOUD! I mean, REALLY loud! Every aspect of this band is pushed into the red...it’s an absolute wall of sound, including the bellowing vocals of Ron Bruynseels, who sounds like a rodeo bull that’s been kicked in the nuts. This guy just roars throughout the duration of the album. Again, the song “Rambler of Aeons” sounds like a mix of modern groovy thrash and melodic death metal, with a chaotic, almost spacey feel. And that’s followed up with the thrashing “Underworld”, just to show they can keep it up.
It becomes apparent that BARK is not actually doing anything very new or radical, but they just attack their music with enough intensity to really lift it to another level. There’s a kind of punk fury to cuts like “I’m Here For Rock N’ Roll”, “For A Legend” and “Fuck You Is My Etiquette”, but it’s played with a real metallic edge. The middle of the album features songs that are slower and on the surface more commercial, like “Dream On”, “Kid Giant” and “Back From The Grave”...they are almost structured like modern radio hard rock...but again, everything is so loud and heavy, it comes across much more metal than it seems. The most melodic track is “Still Walking” but it comes after some of the fastest and most raging cuts.
These Belgians have come up with a formula that will appeal to all but the most underground of metal heads...they could play gigs with EXODUS, LAMB OF GOD, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, SEPULTURA. It’s not revolutionary but wow, is it LOUD!