Buried in Lies Turns Turmoil Into Emotionally-Charged Metal

Tyler Trejo isn’t afraid to cry in front of strangers.

As the vocalist of Pueblo metalcore band Buried in Lies, Trejo found himself baring it all on stage while performing the song “A World Without You” for the first time during the release show for the act’s sophomore EP, Finding Beauty in Pain, released in December.

“People thought it was part of the show, and it totally was not, but I broke down crying because it was so intense for me to perform that song,” he says, adding that every time Buried plays is a “visceral performance.”

“You get the usual stuff with us, the chuggy riffs and breakdowns and big, soaring choruses,” Trejo continues. “But you get to watch me tear myself apart on stage and see a guy in makeup absolutely destroy himself because he doesn’t want to go to therapy that often. That’s something that I’ve naturally stumbled into as a frontman and vocalist. I’m basically going so hard that I’m ready to throw up after the set, because I just put it all out there.”

He had plenty to put into Finding Beauty in Pain. While Trejo was grieving the death of his grandmother, his grandfather suffered a sudden health scare, and Trejo found himself at the hospital on Devil’s Night contemplating the possibility of losing another loved one. Around the same time, he and his father each battled benign tumors of their own; Trejo had a non-cancerous mass on his ear that required surgery.

That experience inspired the track “Pieces.”

“It hurt every time I practiced, played a show. Now that’s all said and done, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I feel great,” he says. “It’s totally Hallmark movie status. There were all these things going on, all these emotional things coming together.”

Trejo coped through music, leaning on his bandmates — guitarists Xavier McCreery and Dan Boren, drummer Andrew Campos and bassist Chrystian Taylor — as Finding Beauty in Pain took shape, including adding moments of new wave, emo and nu metal.

“We wanted to be a little different because we’re just weirdos. We really like shoegaze and the Cure, so how do we put those elements into the band? That’s where you get a lot of the ambient stuff that we throw in,” he says. “We wanted it to be super aggressive and in-your-face, but also be very vulnerable at the same time. I think that’s a balance that we struck with Finding.”

But he doesn’t want to over-analyze: Some days, he didn’t even listen to his vocals after they were recorded.

“There were a lot of times I would leave recording and be in a bad mood. I’d be crying on the way home,” Trejo shares. “I would recluse myself from everything. I didn’t even want to hear my vocal takes.”

Once Finding Beauty in Pain was ready to release, through, he realized all the anguish and agony had been necessary. “Hearing the record for the first time, it really was worth the heartache. More so, I never set out to make something so emotionally vulnerable,” he says.

Buried in Lies is promoting Finding Beauty in Pain with appearances throughout the state this winter, before focusing on sharing new music this summer in the hope of putting together another EP that will reveal a different version of the band, according to Trejo.

“I almost don’t recognize myself. When I listen to it, it’s like someone else screaming at me,” he concludes. “I’m so separated from that person I was at that point, because I made peace with my grandmother passing away. It’s like hearing a different person

Buried in Lies, with Ransom Note, Degreaser and Reason for Concern, 6 p.m. Saturday, February 21, at Ante Up, 2130 South Platte River Drive. The show will benefit Denver Urban Gardens, and there’s a $15 suggested donation at the door; $10 with non-perishable.