Evolution Of Self: On ‘The Union Of Crowns’, Bury Tomorrow’s sophomore album stood out from the metalcore pack

Bury Tomorrow easily stand out among a sea of like-minded metal bands. While you could argue any of their full-lengths contains their best material, it’s 2012’s The Union Of Crowns that truly displays their most prolific songs to date. 14 tracks and an almost hour runtime might seem a bit much for a metalcore record, but there’s hardly a moment wasted here. Considering how expansive their discography is now, it’s not a small feat to accomplish this.

Thankfully, the album gets off to a very strong start with the one-two punch of “Redeemer” and “The Maiden”, two songs that arguably define modern metalcore. (Almost) perfectly balanced, as all great melodic metalcore should be, the former’s lead and rhythm guitar are tightly wound to each other, with Jason Cameron mostly commanding the vocal proceedings. In fact, the general rule is that anytime Cameron gets a chance to shine, he does so with extreme proficiency.

Considering this was the band’s sophomore album, and they released it right in the middle of when metalcore was arguably at its most saturated point, its proficiency is impressive. You really can’t say enough about the dual vocals of Jason Cameron and Dani Winter-Bates. The latter improved tenfold from the Portraits days, and Dani’s vocals still manage to sound raw and unique on tracks like the roaring “Royal Blood”, where he has full control of the song and where he wants it to go sonically. Truly one of those songs that are made for the moshpit. Meanwhile, Jason Cameron sports some of the most dynamic singing in melodic metalcore, going high and low with seemingly little effort expended. Listen to album closer “A Curse”, for instance. It’s a mostly instrumental track but it’s also led by Jason’s voice, proving to be one of the best tracks the band has written, period.

There’s no shortage of full-throttle heaviness, however. For those who love breakdowns and walls of crushing heaviness, there’s the aforementioned “Royal Blood”, as well as “Abdication Of Power”. These songs exhibit a sense of relentless riffs and metal that it’s really difficult for other bands to keep up with their musical proficiency. It’s also a testament to their songwriting skill and obvious penchant for balance that helped Bury Tomorrow explode in popularity. At almost an hour long and a staggering 14 tracks, there is the obvious pitfall of certain songs blending together (this happens on the second half of the record a bit), but even then that’s not a huge issue. It is metalcore, after all, so this isn’t the kind of album that really reinvents the wheel – minus a few aforementioned slight curveballs.

On The Union Of Crowns, Bury Tomorrow did what many metalcore bands fail to do – establish a distinct identity. While the band’s technical proficiency was never (and still isn’t) in question, it’s a true example of a band taking the next step forward in their career.