Burden - Hole in the Shell (2010)

   As it was mentioned before, stoner rock is a genre that requires "talents" to be able to make it wrong, since it's old school roots and '90s basics are easy to adapt into modern sound. And it's audience friendly fixed formula is also kind of evergreen. 
   However, Burden emerged from the long line of similar bands, partly because they didn't have too evident references to the classics, and they've mixed various closely related styles with ease. "Hole in the Shell" definitely didn't sound like a debut of beginners, but like an album made by well tried musicians. They knew exactly how far they can go with diversity and how to combine the various pieces for the most advantageous effect. Slowly bouncing groovy themes giving the basic tone with rusty sound, that's somewhere half way between heaviness and psychedelic approach. Not too wild, but also not too soft. It's exactly like how southern rock used to end up when it's mixed with groove metal. But the main impression is way more chilled, and instead of becoming too repetitive or one sided, catchy, but heavy leading melodies taking the advantage. At the vocal the singer's remarkable voice range fills similar role, from clear singing to wild screaming shows the same wide perspectives. Even though Burden didn't become a long living project, there was quite big potential in the band, therefore it's unfortunate that they didn't continue their activity.