‘The spin-kickers and headbangers can unite in a murderous euphoria under the weight of this audio onslaught,’ said Scream Blast Repeat of Burner’s fantastic 2023 debut. We also reviewed their show at The Castle Tavern in Luton when they went on the road with Calligram. The band had no immediate plans to write new material then, but something has changed in the last couple of years. No One is Coming to Save Us is both forlorn and furious. It’s not the hardcore/death metal of their last two records, though that still informs some of what they do.
Starting with a song of almost eight minutes is a bold statement from a metallic hardcore band. Nathan Harlow is not famous for his pensive melodies and clean guitar passages. Yet for the first two minutes of ‘The Third Revelation’, he plucks his strings like a man asked to perform at a funeral wake. However, his next move is unmistakable as he grinds away at his axe in sludge metal mode with the thudding drums. Burner announced on Bandcamp that they see a new part of their evolution through the prism of post-metal, and they weren’t lying. Here, the dynamics scale and descend à la the latest Matador record but then leap into a black metal frenzy when you’re already weighing up how much they’ve changed. Harry Nott’s throat technique is grisly and moist, like a death metal vocalist putting his life on the line, yet he bows his head for a spoken-word reprise at the end.
Josh Middleton (Sylosis) joins them on vocals for ‘What Will You Give’. This is the Burner we know: violent, as enthusiastic about d-beats as double-kick accents, beholden to the beatdown riff, screaming at decibel levels that could shake a fortress. Matt Heafey of Trivium is another guest on ‘Sunrise, Parabellum’. You can still hear the Machine Head influences underneath the frantic rage, and Burner are stronger for it. Somehow, these two songs are only half the length of the opener, but they feel as long, maybe because they cram so much into them. The same applies to ‘Blood River’, which is another murderous blast of chunky riffing and eye-bursting aggression. You might even forget this is about Enoch Powell’s controversial “Rivers of Blood” speech in 1968, which prophesied a multicultural Britain beset by division and hatred if immigration continued to rise. (NB: These are not the sentiments of the band.)
The message of this LP is clear: we are condemned to make the same mistakes as our forefathers. It will end badly if we fail to resist the calculated rhetoric of politicians who speak for the grievances of the nation’s disenchanted. AI will not save us. ‘A Shattered Visage Lies’ and ‘Accelerationist’ veer between skull-bashing hardcore and panic chords, sometimes matching the guitar rhythms to the vocals like punches to the stomach. The former goes full black metal at the midway point, while the latter asks you to imagine Hatebreed under the spell of Entombed. Drummer Jack Bryant deserves a lot of the credit for operating this rhythmic machine. His use of groove and exquisite footwork is as good as anything in contemporary metal.
It’s a sensible move to start Side B by embracing their newfound talent for slower, more introspective compositions. ‘The Agony of Peace’ might be pessimistic and miserable, but they discover sorrowful guitar melodies among the anguish. This song reminds the listener how much Svalbard will be missed since they disbanded last month. But let’s not forget that Burner remain a riff-hungry band that make your shoulders move while Harry Nott roars into your ears like the stinging conscience of a war criminal. ‘Wish Granter’ can compete with Knocked Loose, but it also possesses an atmospheric dimension that’s unusual in this type of music. The sudden change of tempo comes courtesy of Bryant’s quick thinking on the toms.
Burner don’t do verse-chorus songs, but they have scream-along moments that could pass for a chorus if you were intoxicated enough to lose your sense of control. The use of the insane colonel from Apocalypse Now as the protagonist in ‘Kurtz’ is perfect for the bloodlust of the music. You can find euphoria in the abandonment of civilised behaviour, as we know all too well in Europe’s twentieth-century history. A glance at the running time for the closing track, ‘Agni Kai’, will make you believe they intend to finish this record as they started it. Don’t be presumptuous. The first two minutes are full of blast beats and intimidating staccato stabs, with Harry Nott spitting his inner vitriol into his microphone. This is the type of post-metal that Gojira incorporate in their music. The hooks are there; the syncopation is as sharp as a machine; the drums counter everything like bullet shields. Allowing this white-hot aggression to flicker out like a dying flame for the last two minutes is a testament to Burner’s ambition. They don’t overthink anything. Their emotions take them to places some of us dare not countenance.
Kirk Houghton
Verdict
Release Date: 25/09/2026
Record Label: Church Road Records
Standout tracks: The Third Revelation; Wish Granter; Agni Kai
Suggested Further Listening: Svalbard – The Weight of the Mask (2023), Mastiff – Deprecipice (2024), Matador – Above, Below and So (2026)