Listed by popular UK magazine Kerrang! as the ‘New Face of Korean Rock’ BURSTERS completed their first UK tour, [World Tour : K-ROCK REVELATION] in July 2019, reigning from Seoul, South Korea this band has been the only band to make it to the last top six in the prestigious Super Star K, tv show. As rock music is still rather unusual in South Korea, it was an absolute honor to them to also become the first Korean artist to be added to the ‘Kerrang!’ radio playlist and stayed in place for over 14 weeks. They released their 2nd full-length album [Once and for All] after three years of dedicated work, it features bold musical ventures that weave through diverse genres and shows the bands unique powerful message combined with a true hardcore/metalcore sound. Unfortunately we missed their tour last year in Europe but we hope to get the chance to see BURSTERS some time in the future
버스터즈 (BURSTERS) – Once and for All
Release date: 2020.03.27
Tracklisting
1. Smell the Rot
2. Barriers
3. Hero
4. Colors
5. Once and for All
6. Dreamer
7. Dreamer Ⅱ
8. Remind You
9. Therapy
10. Give and Take
11. Here I Am
12. Savage
13. Eternal
14. Heal
In their own words
The album begins with title track ‘Smell the Rot’ – the pinnacle of hardcore rock, with explosive guitars, bass, and drums from start to finish with majestic dark synths and strings pierced through by high-energy screaming. The song tells a powerful message against how we ignore the dark shadow behind the progress of mankind – pollution in both society and natural environment, heading towards destruction of our own habitat. The song is a message to us all to ‘wake up’.
Listeners will also find previously-released tracks ‘Dreamer’, ‘Dreamer II’, ‘Eternal’, and ‘Here I Am’ re-recorded in English and re-worked with a richer, more sophisticated sound of heightened quality. ‘Once and for All’, the second title track, spreads BURSTERS’ signature message of hope and positivity through its danceable pop-rock charms – one of BURSTERS’ trademarks – with easygoing drums and bass rhythms and light-hearted guitar melody. ‘Remind You’, with a lyrical melody at its heart, is a song full of promises to stay by your side to provide courage and strength when the weight of life becomes too heavy to bear alone. ‘Therapy’, a song of dreamy sounds coupled with strong guitar riffs, and ‘Give and Take’, a funky song that cheerfully deals with a breakup, both offer yet another side of BURSTERS. To top it off, last year’s Grammy Award Winner and world-class mastering engineer Dave Donnelly (previously the mastering engineer for Aerosmith, Pink, Whitesnake, Motley Crue, Papa Roach, etc.) perfected the album by taking charge of the mastering.
Our opinion
Within the album’s 14 tracks, you will find the entire colorful musical spectrum of BURSTERS with new attempts and combinations that offer everything from the most ‘rock’ of sounds to the most ‘pop’ of melodies. The first track Smell The Rot starts with a quick playful riff on a string instrument and explosive guitars, drums and raspy screams. It gives off the vibe of rock and emo from the beginning of 2000 and it pulls you in rather easily. To be honest there is nothing I don’t like about this album. Barriers starts of slow and goes into an angry feeling that helps you get out all the negativity. Hero has a groovy bassline and seems like it would be the perfect dance along during shows with moments for crazy headbanging and a small moshpit before flowing in a slower rock ballad. Dae-Gun really has the perfect raspy voice for the music they chose to make. It blends perfectly with the bands aesthetic. Colors is the perfect sing along, beginning with singled out vocals before blending the music perfectly. Whenever I hear this song I right away start moving along to the beat. It’s good!
Once and for All is also a great track, building up slowly it really has that happy moment feel that you see in movies where the antagonist finally finds their true potential and they are filled with happiness. This song should be played as loud as possible and to sing along in those moments you feel just that type of happy. The uptempo song is followed by the start of a piano in Dreamer, this song has been previously been released in Korean, but I can’t complain, I like them both equally. Followed by Dreamer II, which is a has a much slower start but goes into that typical metal high pitched screaming and continues guitar riff in the bridges. Remind you starts with an acoustic sound, It’s positive loving song with hope and love in it’s promise. A good follower for the rougher songs. I think of the album Therapy is one of my most favourite songs, It’s a little bit of a mix of drums and guitars being out of sync with each other and it gives a good balance along with the vocals being strong and raw. This goes on within the last of the bunch. Give and Take, Here I Am, Savage, Eternal and Heal are equally as great as the 9 songs before it and this album hasn’t gained enough listens among the European crowd. Please do give BURSTERS a listen, they’re awesome!
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