Album Review: Upon A Burning Body – Southern Hostility (Seek & Strike)

Mexican-US metallers Upon A Burning Body are back with new album Southern Hostility, out on Seek and Strike on 7th June 2019. This is their first release since 2016’s ‘Straight from the Barrio’ which saw them tour the world including the UK / Europe supporting Five Finger Death Punch.

Ruben (guitars) states: “We simply felt it was time for a change. This new album is definitely a huge statement for us. It was time to reinvent ourselves and get back to our roots – pure heavy fucking metal! The energy of this album takes us back to our first two, but with much more maturity.

“We worked for two months with Christopher Mora (producer) and our younger brother, Thomas Alvarez (co-producer). They are both amazing song writers and were able to help us create fresh and infectious ideas. The four of us worked together to create a fresh, raw and energetic sound. We took influences from some of the greatest metal bands of all-time (Pantera, Metallica, etc), in order to fill a void that many people are craving and need. Once we finished tracking and putting the final touches we realized we created an album that would change everything for us. This is what everyone has been waiting for: no gimmicks and just straight in your face metal!”

Gawd damn, do Upon A Burning Body make an immediate impression with the 1:01 opening title track. A screech and squeal of guitars before we get an absolutely crushing breakdown while the vocals scream “this is southern hostility”.

It might be short but there is still plenty of more aggressive and brutalising metal to come as King of Diamonds races along with all the power of a runaway freight train. Al Pride No Pain is frantic ferocity designed to open the biggest pit possible and From Darkness gives us some extra groove and a killer solo.

Burning brightly, The Champ is Coming gets the blood pumping even faster with a hefty chorus. Burn being shouted over and over again in the track of the same title is punchy as hell while Reinventing Hatred keeps things moving forward in impressively angry ways.

So many breakdowns, it’s almost too much if Upon A Burning Body weren’t so very good at it.

This kind of ‘in your face’ metal could get cloying but most of the tracks are only about 3 to 3 and a half minutes long and it’s only 11 tracks overall. Suddenly without even really realising it, the album reaches its end with a final handful of callous and blood-thirsty tracks.

The most surprising being a pretty cool cover of Alice Cooper’s Feed My Frankenstein. Truly southern hostility.

Upon A Burning Body – Southern Hostility Full Track Listing:

1. Southern Hostility
2. King Of Diamonds
3. All Pride No Pain
4. From Darkness
5. The Champ Is Coming
6. Burn
7. Reinventing Hatred
8. Never Alone
9. The Anthem Of The Doomed
10. Soul Searcher
11. Frankenstein (Alice Cooper Cover)

Head over to Upon A Burning Body’s website for more information and album ordering links. You can also keep up to date by liking their Facebook Page, following them on Twitter and on Instagram.