Burden of Grief

Known for their love of amphetamine-like intensity and high-speed bombast, Burden of Grief is a German metal band that believes in going for the jugular. Some people have characterized their blistering work as "melodic death metal," a term that has been applied to Scandinavian bands like At the Gates, In Flames, and Age of Ruin. But Burden of Grief don't really sound like the Nordic bands that are considered melodic death metal and/or symphonic black metal. Instead, Burden of Grief -- whose albums are best described as a combination of death metal and thrash metal with power metal references -- get most of their inspiration from American and British bands, and those bands range from the seminal Slayer to Megadeth to Iron Maiden (although Burden of Grief generally favor a harsher and faster approach than Maiden and other old-school power metal outfits). Burden of Grief were formed in Kassel, Germany, during the summer of 1994, when lead singer Mike Huhmann got together with drummer Christoph Schellöh and two guitarists: Oliver Eikenberg (who stuck around until 2001) and Philipp Hanfland. For their first few months, Burden of Grief didn't have a bassist, but that changed when bassist Ulrich Busch came on board in late 2004 -- and with that five-man lineup in place, Burden of Grief recorded their first demo cassette, A Duet of Thoughts, in 1996. More demos followed, including Above Twilight Wings in 1997 and Eternal Solar Eclipse in 1999. It was also in 1999 that the German headbangers signed with a small independent label called Grind Syndicate Media, which digitally remastered their 1997 and 1999 demo/promotional recordings (including a cover of the Iron Maiden favorite "Prowler") and combined them as a full-length album titled Haunting Requiems in 2000. Subsequent...