after the burial is one of those numerous sumerian records prog/tech death metal bands. along with born of osiris or veil of maya they have been washed up in the early to mid 00's and have since then a pretty loyal fan base, myself included. a lot of sumerian vinyl titles seem pretty collectible, so it was always a pain to get a copy of "wolves within" from 2013. anyway, i slept on the release of "dig deep" earlier this year and so didn't pre-order it. in the end it wasn't even a mistake because there are still a few copies on ebay germany for good prices without high oversea shipping costs.
i ordered from an u.k. seller because he offered that lovely split colour edition, the final price was very reasonable and so it was an easy choice. "dig deep" is the band's ten year anniversary release and the first after founding member justin lowe's suicide in 2015. naturally this loss shaped the album and lyrically a lot of the songs are inspired by it. music-wise you get an up-tempo on-off riff festival, a good chunk of technical finesse and spine-chilling melodies. even a horn is part of the instrumentation (check "laurentian ghosts").
as i don't know the complete work of the band, i cannot make profound judgement but the album is definitely one of the best releases by this minnesota based group, if not the best to date (further research will reveal the truth). the presentation by sumerian is as simply as it is nice. a simple cover slip sleeve and a printed dust sleeve with warm artwork and the matching vinyl colour round out the package. don't know how many copies have been pressed. sumerian records. 2016.
