On Danish pastures, The Burning have managed to make a name of themselves. Heavy touring both before and after the release of their debut from 2007, ‘Storming the Walls’, earned them a Danish Metal Award for Best Live Band and it wasn’t undeserved.

The debut was a decent effort by all means, but it never reached the band’s frantic intensity on the stage.

With ‘Reawakening’, I think it’s a little different.

In terms of dynamic live feel, the disc is a little gem. There’s no cold Andy Sneap production here, that’s for sure. Rather, think Pantera in the ‘Cowboys..’ era (emphasised by the fact that The Burning have only one guitarist as well and thus leaves plenty of room for the bass).

The warm and very late 80s/early 90s thrash live feel is just perfect for the band’s thrash/deathcore crossover. Everything is moving and practically brimming with life.

In terms of song writing, The Burning haven’t exactly built pyramids since their debut, but there is, admittedly, slightly more complexity to be detected and, more importantly, a couple of real thrash hits. Tunes like Carnivora, Father They Call Me The Heretic, He Who Whispers In The Back Of Us All and Evangelical Cannibal will most certainly go down extremely well live.

Johnny Haven adds to the thrash/deathcore cocktail of his backing band a schizophrenic vocal style that goes from Anselmo-like screams to death grunts, a fact that adds loads to the dynamism of the album.

See this band live when you have the opportunity!