Sometimes you can be very anticipated in reviewing an album. In the case of Burnt By The Sun, this was definitely so on the grounds of their excellent EP released by Relapse half a year ago. But the wait is over, the full-length (well, 30 minutes counts as full-length with these guys) has arrived, and my hunger is satisfied. Or is it?

Soundtrack To The Personal Revolution is not a new landmark in noisecore/metal. That much is sure. Their style and brand of music has been played by others (Converge, Drowningman, Deadguy to name a few). But Burnt By The Sun are good at what they do, very good. They manage to find the right balance between moshing your head frantically to hyperfast riffs and blasts, insane patterns, and still leave some room for melody and a chunky, open sound that doesn`t make the album suffocate you if you listen to it from beginning to end.

With all movie-related songtitles, songs like "Boston Tea-Bag Party", "Mortimer" and "Soundtrack To The Worst Movie Ever", some of my favourites, are excellent proof that this band has reached the point where it should be taken into account. The dynamic vocals (Michael Olender) stay interesting throughout the album, the guitar/bass combo are thrown splendidly into the mix, and the drums are handled by Dave Witte, so no comments there.

Solid, I told you.

Still, what I did expect to find more on this album was the element of surprise. Especially with a good `movie`-concept like this (just take a look at the artwork) it would have been intriguing to find references to movies back in the music as well. Also, even though there are plenty of breaks and hooks, some style changes wouldn`t have hurt either. Instead of going for a solid and steady album, I wouldn`t have minded a little bit of insanity here and there. And no, the pretty lame instrumental "Rebecca"-part at the end doesn`t count! As far as I am concerned, this is the only real blemish I could find on this album.

If you have any interest in the noisecore area, you probably have picked this album up already. If you haven`t, shame on you! For you metalheads who have recently acquired a taste for Relapse-offerings such as the Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge, pick this up. It won`t disappoint you!