Titan - Burn

TITAN - Burn
2012
Hypaethral

Here's something I've been looking for for a long time now: a full length from Toronto's Titan. The last EPs Scraps of a Feast (2010) and Colossus (2009) were excellent albums that I keep revisiting from time to time. From my perspective, they were both pointing into a very interesting direction: a sludgy avalanche, where hardcore meets heavy grounds, and slows down a bit to devastate everything in its path.

My expectations for Burn were very high, and my first impressions were that Burn didn't explore any new grounds, nor achieve the same lasting effect as the previous EPs. Therefore I had to give myself more time to absorb the new album.

Obviously, Titan has a lot of experience and knows exactly what they're doing. They've released a few EPs and splits, got distributed through React With Protest overseas and Hypaethral locally, toured a lot, and made a name for themselves on the underground scene. Musically, the band picks up where other bands such as Buried Inside left, and brings the best out of post-hardcore/sludge music.

After listening to Burn for many weeks, my appreciation is two-fold. On the one hand, I keep thinking that the 2012 album doesn't deliver anything that hasn't been offered through Scraps of a Feast or Colossus. It doesn't have much "layers", and everything is in your face, missing that epic monumental edge they flirted with on the previous EPs.

On the other hand, it feels really good to listen to a full length album of Titan. 1 intro and 9 songs very well crafted, no fillers (but no central song either), assembled to make a statement about Titan's credibility on the music scene. In other words, the strong focus throughout the album confirms that Titan is one of today's major act for the genre in Canada.

LPs and digital: http://hypaethralrecords.bandcamp.com/album/burn