Review: Bust A Move – There’s No Place Like Home [2012]

Artist: Bust A Move
Album: There’s No Place Like Home
Rating: 9/10

Tracklist
1. Intro
2. Contaminated
3. Inner Demon
4. Swallow the Pill of Disrespect
5. There’s no Place like Home
6. Desperation
7. Dormientes Diabolus
8. The Lion’s Prey
9. Misanthropic Hell
10. Catharsis of the Damned
11. The Apocalypse

Some deathcore bands can instantly be written off by their name, which is what you might be thinking about a deathcore band called Bust A Move. But this band is the exception to the rule. Kind of like how at first thought you might have found Slice The Cake on some Myspace player and thought they were a joke, then when you hit play all your doubts were erased. Another rule of thumb this band actually follows is that bands who aren’t from America do deathcore better. Bust A Move hails from Germany which might be why you haven’t heard of them but now they should at least be on your radar. From the first listen of There’s No Place Like Home, I knew this band wasn’t messing around. All it takes is one song to really show the talent this band has. I’m very picky when it comes to deathcore music, and this stuff is some of the best I’ve heard in years. Bust A Move has shared the stage with acts like Awaken Demons, Suffokate, and King Conqueror. Which is accurate in describing where they might get their sound from because they sound like the child of those three bands. The breakdowns and bounciness of Awaken Demons, the riffs of Suffokate, and the vocal ferocity of King Conqueror.

The first thing you hear on this album is this eerie musical box intro. Personally this is one of the best ways to start any deathcore album, something that raises the hair on the back of your neck. The album then bursts into their single titled, “Contaminated”. This song has a lot of different musical components: there is machine gun like drumming, melodic guitar rifts, and most importantly a breakdown that can make your ears bleed. The album doesn’t ever let up either, song after song the album delivers the same flawless performance. Honestly, it is hard for me to pick out tracks that really just stood out among the album because the whole album blends so well. The album title song “There’s No Place Home” is also another one of my personal favorites, they have some quest vocals on this track they really make it a favorite of mine. “Desperation” is another song that really stood out on the album for me, mainly because of the minute long slow churned breakdown with some horroresque guitar licks mixed in. The track that follows, “Dormientes Diabolus” is a beautiful interlude that rivals some of the best acts. It really is just a great mixture of how the songs are laid out, from going to brutal song to brutal song to coming to a beautiful interlude that just comes off as the calm of the storm. The later tracks on the album have a lot of orchestral overlays as well that really make the album unique.

Now I’ve talked about the songs, but let me take a moment to praise their vocalist, Marc. This guy has some range, he can deliver brutal highs and a booming lows. Some vocalists try their hardest on screaming, but very few get the sound as good as Bust A Move. Another thing I’ve noticed about this album is how amazing the production is. There’s No Place Like Home was mixed and mastered at Pitchback Studios by Aljoscha Sieg, supposedly one of the better studios for German metal and they couldn’t be anymore correct. Everything is so greatly mastered that it makes the album sound heavier than I could imagine. I honestly cannot remember a time when I’ve felt my ear buds tremble from a bass drop.

This album simple takes the cake, it is honestly the best deathcore album I’ve heard in years. Granted I’m the type of guy who doesn’t look too much into technicality when it comes to the genre. I just want the angriest and heaviest deathcore album possible. Bust A Move delivers that on so many levels. There is something for everyone with this album. If you like brutal breakdowns, you can check that off. If you’re a fan of catchy death metal riffs, you can add that to the list. If you want some gnarly vocals, you got that too. Basically the album is 37 minutes of absurdly brutal deathcore with a lot of passion and at times, beauty. Some of the songs have a great melodic part before returning to the intensity, which is what really seals this album as an all time favorite. Any fan of the deathcore genre will be super pleased with this German band. Don’t sleep on this one.

For fans of: Molotov Solution, Slice The Cake, Make Them Suffer