Admittedly we here at Demo:listen were a bit nervous about reaching out to this week’s featured artist. Based in Australia, Burier assails their listeners with an intent not so much malicious as totally inhuman. From the outside looking in, everything about Burier’s demo—the logo, the artwork, the fact that the tapes were literally buried, not to mention the ear-stabbing music itself—it all comes across as so hostile that we were hesitant to make contact, despite how fascinated we were with the recording. When both the original run and the repressing of Burier’s self-released demo tape sold out instantly, we knew we no longer had a choice. We had to cover this demo.
Burier
Rather than asking Burier how they came up with their band name, as we usually do, we ask: “What is Burier?”
“I am Burier,” they write back. “Burier is the instinctual manifestation of the deepest discomfort, ugliness and horror within my mental well. It serves as an invitation, to those brave enough, to receive a hellish transmission of surreal abject horror.”
They continue: “I have lived as a multi-disciplinary artist my whole life. I picked up the guitar at the age of 5 years old, and have drawn and painted since as long. Without telling a life story, Burier started at the age of 28. The first recordings were made during Autumn 2018 and continued into that winter.”
While their answers do little to dispel the feeling of imminent danger, physical, psychological, or spiritual, Burier at least comes across as intelligent, and diplomatic. They seem to understand that if they let us go, we can bring them more victims. So we want to know, what inspires them to make their black metal this way? While Burier’s self-titled demo blares full of inspiration, its black metal style is also quite singular.
“I’m very interested and curious about the natural world, the supernatural world, ancient history and mythology,” the Burier explains. “I think they are the greatest mysteries and horrors of our shared existence. The land here in Australia is very old and special. Where I live is in the swamp, between the beach and mountainous rain forest. The environment is full of strange and poisonous creatures, flies and mosquitoes, spiders, snakes, leeches, and lots of bats.
“Honestly, 90% of the music I listen to never seems to convey or inflict the satisfactory amount of terror upon me that I yearn to experience. I’m waiting for the next person or band that I will listen to for the first time that will mess with me. I want to feel it.”
So what about the fascination with burying things?
Burier explains that all 40+ copies of the demo “were buried, exhumed, and cursed.” They go on to say: “I believe some of the greatest secrets of our history lay buried . . . [Burying] something will either preserve it, cause it to rot, or cause it to grow. The demo was buried for an entire year. It almost didn’t make it. I had to be sure. But in this case it became rotten and grew at the same time, a true mutant spawned.
“It is my belief that tape has the ability to have more than just music imprinted on it,” they suggest, ominously. “After all, [tapes] operate with magnets and electricity, frequency and vibration. I’m currently refining the self-dubbing process with upgraded equipment. As it stood, I had a collection of old tape machines, some full of cobwebs, some rusted and broken. I bought blanks and hand painted and dubbed them myself. These artefacts are authentic.”
But let’s be honest, these tapes were cursed long before Burier literally laid a hex on them as the black metal here is full of parasitic earworm riffs and subliminal vocals buried in the mix like subcutaneous spider eggs. The songs themselves move more like nightmares, rather than conventional songs.
“The expressions that I recorded serve as a cathartic purging for myself, seeking to affect the listener in spite of how I want to be affected by music myself,” Burier explains. “I don’t second guess myself much with Burier. I feel that I’m mostly led by the same instinct that I draw and paint with.”
Everything about Burier is done in isolation by the artist themselves.
“I self-record at home in the same space that I draw and paint in, I have all my books, ornaments, fetishes, treasure, culture and luxuries here. I’m in my own world here. The vocals I self-record in dimly lit, soundproof studio spaces. I have played in different bands for years, so being on my own is challenging, yet it’s relieving and satisfying not having other people involved in any of the creative process.”
For those of you kicking yourselves for having missed out on this extremely potent piece of abject art, a shred of hope remains that you may yet wrap your greedy little claws around your own copy of Burier’s self-titled demo.
According to Burier, a pro-cassette version of their debut will be “released October 6th on Goatowarex, featuring a painting of [theirs] on the cover artwork.”
Burier says a percentage of the pro-tapes will find their way to their own Bandcamp page, as well. Looking forward, Burier promises there will be more.
“Rumour of a pressing of the first release on 12” [vinyl] through Goatowarex. The next release has already been recorded entirely, mastered, and the artwork is at the final stages of creation. I have 53 mins worth of instrumental [music] recorded for release no.3, as well as lyrical content. I also have a collaborative project in the works with a long time conspirator. Stay updated with news at @iamburier on Instagram.”
