BURY THE PARIAH „“Sociopathic Undergarment: The Metal Album””

Music: Death Metal/Grind
Website: www.myspace.com/burythepariah
Country: United States
Duration: 60:37
Cool Songs: Break for the Prank, Tin Foil, Koko Blew it Up

BURY THE PARIAH is the demented, juvenile mastermind of one, Rory Heikkila. “Sociopathic Undergarment…” is the second album Heikkila released on AcidVictim Records. He also lent his weird sense of humor and technical prowess to other projects such as SHROUD OF DESPONDANCY—also on AcidVictim Records—and DOMAIN VIOLENCE. BURY THE PARIAH (BTP) plays technical death/grind similar to CEPHALIC CARNAGE with a humourous twist of A.C. and EXIT-13.

Just writing this album title, “Sociopathic Undergarment: The Metal Album,” makes a smirk form on my face. What would he title a country music album, “Sex with my sister is no longer fun: The Country Album?” What would a sociopathic undergarment be like, anyway? From what we know about the most famous psychopaths in history, the undergarment would probably be very clean and neat, possibly ironed. Whatever a sociopathic undergarment looks like or smells like, Heikkila makes it clear he is a fan of underwear.

Staying consistent to the album’s silly vibe, “Break for the prank” is a hilarious prank phone call where the prankster (it’s not clear if this is Heikkila or a twisted associate) makes many references to the undergarments of the people he is pranking. He first tells the confused woman on the line that, “I got in her pants,” referring to her sister. Then when her angry boyfriend answers the line, the prankster asks him, “what do your draws smell like?” He also poses the question, “what’s your belly button smell like, you son of a bitch?”

Although “Break for The Prank” conveys nothing about the music BTP plays, it’s damn funny! The end of “Tin Foil” is another gut buster due to Mr. T’s tough guy, anti-drug rap performed to robotic, ‘80s break dance music. What is ironic about T’s speal is most people spinning this album are probably getting high as he speaks.

Even though “Sociopathic…” has moments of comedic relief, Heikkila is no joke when playing his guitar. He flawlessly switches picking styles and pace. Most of his guitar licks consist of chunky chromatic scales, gritty grooves, string bending as warped as his mind, and swift harmonic breaks. Quite often, Heikkila plays sweeping guitar solos on top on his grinding rhythms. The end portion of “Koko Blew it up” features rich, twin guitar solo melodies. The ascending scale riff at the beginning of the said song is also impressive. Macabre’s Corporate Death is known for firing off such insane riffs.

Heikkila’s guitar playing is truly the album’s strong point. The drums and vocals are not quite as desirable. Like fellow grinder, Seth Putnam of A.C. fame, Heikkila screams at the top of his lungs. The difference between Heikkila and Putnam, though, is A.C. albums are a collection of short songs keeping the listener’s attention. “Sociopathic…” is over an hour long. Being attentive for over an hour to this harsh vocal style is a tall task. The drum machine sound gets tiring after a couple of songs, too. BTP would be world renown if a real drummer were playing these complex rhythms, but it is a machine so there is nothing to marvel about. In addition, there are moments where the drum sounds like a bucket and the cymbals just sound too synthetic. However, the humor and great guitar antics make this a worth CD to warp your mind to.

note: 6/10

Tracklist

Conditioned To Clap
Tin Foil
The Televangelism Tune
Koko Blew It Up
Break For The Prank
C.O.D.
New
The Tops
I'm All Eyes
Onward To Inward
Father Mortuary And His Acceptance Speech

Line-up

Rory Heikkila-vocals and all instruments