Snow Burial Live:
“ Snow Burial came in like a hurricane to shake you from your sticky slumber…and would rank them along with Pelican, Russian Circles, and Huntsmen as vanguards of the scene in this regard.”
Live From London! - January 2017
"Snow Burial's hurtling, post-Mastodon riffs and warm, cascading moments of technical tranquility are crushing" - Metal Hammer UK
“The band’s experimental nature was on full display; their obtuse, sometimes abstract metal seemed to emerge from the air rather than simply emanate from their various electric gizmos.”
Snow Burial Interviews:
Doomtomb Podcast ep 80 - Oct, 2019
The Epitome of Stupidity Podcast ep. 58 - Sept 2019
The Moshville Times, Band of The Day Feature, May 2018
XS Rock - Q&A with Snow Burial. April 2018
Interview with Extreme Underground Music Zine - 1/22/15
Snow Burial Radio Appearances:
Asgard Radio - Doc Metal Show (multiple appearances)
Notes and Bolts Podcast - Interview and songs
The Garage - 103.9 the Fox - Torn @ 19:35
The Forge on Radio Free Kokomo - Multiple appearances
Rock In Chicago - Doc Metal Preview show - Interview @ 1:05:51
The Metal Experience - 3/14/2014, 2/9/2016
Snow Burial Reviews:
Kerrang (UK)
“It’s clear that Snow Burial mean business here, but they’re having a bloody good time while doing so.”
“Snow Burial are different, which is partly because the trio would rather locate themselves in post metal. The Chicagoers create an exciting mix of raw Mastodon sounds with Troy Sanders melodies and a good shot of rocking sounds… Snow Burial could have created their own new genre with OSTRAVA: Post Sludge.”
Huge guitar chords introduce the track before the other instruments kick in with a thunderous blast of brute force. Once the vocals join the attack, you know instantly that this piece of music is seriously pissed off.
Snow Burial are one of the most impressive bands I’ve heard this year, twisting the post-metal genre to their own devices with a sludge twist. Go and see Snow Burial and you’ll definitely be buried in riffs.
Loud, aggressive, in-your-face music delivered with superb musicianship and superb technical competence. This band knows how to put on a show. Highly recommended.
"Snow Burial is what the 21st century extreme music is truly all about be what you want to be and let the world tell you if they give a shit or not? We have a complex, thought driven roller coaster of skill, drive and imagination going on through out the release. Oh and if that is not enough for you to wrap your head around let's add some Math rock movements to the whole thing as well. Good luck mortals as Snow Burial just kick ass on so many levels..."
"Victory In Ruin is heavy and emotional but never cheesy, with some downright nasty riffs between the roaring vocals and graceful leads. Even the lighter moments will keep your head bobbing with a healthy dose of groove. It’s entirely headbangable and never misses a step."
"Whether they’re navigating slippery post-rock territory a la Neurosis, whacky garbled math-rock channeling And So I Watch You From Afar, or grinding noise rock like the iconoclastic Kowloon Walled City, they end up grinding the lips and assholes into one delicious Chicago-flavored sausage."
Teeth of the Divine - Victory In Ruin Review - 3/1/16
"... Despite the points of reference given, Victory in Ruin is an album with a ferociously original sound and a great combination of melody, destruction and sheer ear-bleeding noise. Hypothetically speaking, if Hydrahead signed this band right now, they’d easily be one of the absolute best bands on the label."
Aural Delights - Victory In Ruin Review 2/1/16
Chicago’s post-metal trio, Snow Burial , self-release their debut full-length, “Victory In Ruin” on 1st February. It mixes up sludge, thrash, shoegaze and math rock coming across a little like the bastard offspring of Fucked Up, “Red” era King Crimson and The Melvins. With former members of Hoss, Canyon, Doctor This Virus Is Silence the band self-financed and released two EPs entitled Oxblood Siren and Oxblood Tides in 2014. They make a very impressive noise for a three piece and must have one of the dirtiest bass sounds in the known cosmos. The album kicks a lot of butt and manages to balance the melodic, the progressive and the downright noisy into an impressive set. Recommended!
Tides Review - Extreme Underground Music 1/19/15
Monday, January 19, 2015
Snow Burial/Oxblood Ties/2014 EP Review
Snow Burial are a band from Chicago, Illinois that plays a musical style that they refer to as 'hipster doom metal' and this is a review of their self released 2014 ep "Oxblood Ties".
A very distorted sound starts off the ep along with a very powerful sounding bass guitar which leads up to a more heavy sludge/doom metal direction along with some melodic post metal style guitar leads and shouting style vocals that are very aggressive at times while also bringing in a decent amount of clean singing.
At times the music brings in a good mixture of both clean and heavy parts and at time s you can also hear some elements of hardcore in the bands musical style and at time s the riffing brings in a touch of stoner metal and all of the songs stick to a slow yet heavy musical direction while also incorporating a great amount of melody in the riffing.
Snow Burial plays a style of sludge/doom metal that is very heavy yet melodic at the same time and also brings in a great amount of post metal elements to create a sound of their own, the production sounds very dark yet professional for being a self released recording while the lyrics cover dark and negative themes.
In my opinion Snow Burial are a very great sounding hipster doom metal band and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this recording. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Liars" and "Burned". 8 out of 10.
Tides Review - Liberty Voice 8/12/14
(this was written when the band went by the name Oxblood)
Pioneering bands within the more modern stylings of metal and hardcore, such as Underoath and As I Lay Dying, discovered that they were influencing hordes of new bands that wanted to emulate the simultaneously catchy and heavy vibes that such bands gave off. Despite such fervency throughout the support base of fans, music starts to become more of a product and less of an art when bands are striving too hard to imitate, and not merely use their favorite bands as catalysts for their own craft.
The concept of “heavy” is an oft-sought-after ideal in the worlds of metal, hardcore and hard rock, but the seemingly elusive aim is often defined too narrowly. If a band does not have a certain amount of breakdowns or bass drops, some cliques of fans may not even give them a chance. Oxblood is the daring type of band that decides to jump off the deep end, pushing past the paradigms that certain heavy music fans would hold as prerequisites for good music, and craft a sound of their own.
Oxblood grabs the listener and throws them right into the thick of it with the punishingly heavy “Liars.” Where some bands might try to warm their listeners up to the fullest expression of their sonic onslaught, Oxblood holds nothing back and pushes their gravelly, beefy combination of sludgy rock and metal straight out of the listener’s speakers. Bassist Andrew’s tone fits the band’s style like a hand to a glove, fleshing out the bottom end with dirty and distorted bass lines. For a three-piece band, guitarist Ben does a great job at filling out the higher range of stringed instrumentation.
“Geist” is a fantastically groovy track, as the band places driving, aggressive riffs right next to passages of the band’s lighter and more vulnerable side. It is impressive that a band like Oxblood can make timely room for calmer riffs in the middle of an EP. Most bands in their genre would just want to thrash about onstage and skip melodic and reflective moments altogether. On Tides, Oxblood synchronizes their dark and muddy tone with solid production.
On “Burned,” the band turns the heat right back up as they march confidently forward with their brand of sludgy but focused aggression. Each member in Oxblood performs vocals, and “Burned” is a highlight of the band’s placement of haunting clean vocals, another mark of a band willing to produce the sound they desire and nothing less. Regarding vocals as a whole, Oxblood has a unique take on harsh vocals, not falling strictly into more traditional preferences of metal and rock bands. Their discontented shouts and furious yells lend a powerful hand to Oxblood’s vigorous sound.
Final cut “Torn” comes as quite a surprise, as the band summons up incredibly melodic and ruminative riffs and guitar lines. This final track seems to have been very correctly placed as the last track on Tides, as such a decision brings forth two possible conclusions. Oxblood may have placed this track last as an indication toward where the band will take their musical inclinations in the future. It may have also been placed as last to keep the listener unsuspecting, and to bring a different emotion into Oxblood’s sound, thereby producing an even richer listening experience than if the song were to be first or non-existent.
“Torn” is likely the band’s most concise showcasing of talent on Tides, and drummer Brandon lays down dozens of articulate and tasteful fills. His kit comes through clearly in the mix, and his dynamic integration with his bandmates is well performed. Most of “Torn” is instrumental, before vocals return during the last few minutes to drive home the band’s final lyrical offerings.
From a bird’s eye view, Tides is very well composed, instrumentally and sonically diverse, lyrically unrelenting and fully entertaining. Oxblood is a young band, having only been in motion for two years, but it will come as no surprise if their name continues to pop up on concert flyers around Chicagoland. One aspect that plays to the band’s favor is that their musical characteristics are varied enough such that they can strike a chord amongst both metal and rock fans. Oxblood’s willingness to create the music that they want plays highly in their favor. Tides can be streamed and purchased through the band’s Bandcamp included below. Keep your eyes out for the future releases of this highly talented trio.
Review by Brad Johnson
Siren & Tides Review - Doc Metal 3/5/14
By: Doc Metal
Being a part of this Rock in Chicago team has really opened me up to so much great local talent that I would have never been exposed to otherwise. One of the bands that has found its way into my regular rotation is Oxblood. Holy shit, when I first heard this band’s submission, I was floored…so much so that I wanted to feature them on the premier episode of the Doc Metal Show. After countless listens of their first E.P., “Siren”, I can say that THIS is what I would call a sound, maybe even a new genre that Chicago is going to be known for. This doomy, sludgy, post-metal/rocky sound, which utterly shatters me to my core, is a sound that Oxblood has pretty much perfected, and I know that other people will study this sound and try to mimic it. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a new era for music, an era of music that Chicago will be known for, as Sweden and Norway are known for their black metal. Oxblood just dropped their newest E.P., “Tides.” I am going to kill two birds with one stone and review this E.P. and their first E.P., “Siren”.
Siren: Five songs that are so different from each other but ultimately “make sense” together. From the opening bass riff of “Stripmine” to the noisy, yet serene ending of “Eve”, this E.P. made me fall in love with Oxblood. I challenge you, reader, to go their Bandcamp page here:
http://oxblood.bandcamp.com/album/siren
Listen to “Dogs” in its entirety. I guarantee you that just halfway through this track, you’ll stare at your monitor in awe while your ears are filled with this amazing goodness. Remember that time your girlfriend woke you up on your birthday with a blowjob? Yeah. That’s the feeling you get listening to this. Trust me.
Tides: When I got an email notification that this album was available, I’ll admit, I danced a jig. What a hell of a release! Punishing riffs, haunting vocals, and the whole package is just golden. I am loving this release more and more with each listen. However, I wish there were more than just four tracks! Without a doubt, “Torn” is my favorite song on this sophomore release. Fans of Big Business, Tool, and any post-rock/metal will absolutely love this E.P. Here is the link to “Tides”. Go. Now. Listen and marvel!