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After stints with Endless Flight Records (1999’s Above The Fall Of Man EP) And Eulogy Recordings (2001’s full length Stings Of Conscious and 2002’s EP Endless), Massachusetts five piece metalcore act Unearth (Who are vocalist Trevor Phipps, guitarists Buz McGrath and Ken Susi, bassist John “Slo” Maggard and new drummer Mike Justain (Ex-Backstabbers Inc. and The Red Chord) have signed on with Metal Blade Records for their second full length album The Oncoming Storm.
While metalcore seems to be the current genre of choice for most these days (Some would go as far as to claim it’s the new nu-metal movement!), Unearth are certainly one of the better acts to have emerged into the big league in recent times.
Kicking things off is the full on thrash assault of ‘The Great Dividers’. The Swedish melodic death metal riffs are out in full force with the relentless thick twin guitar sound and attack, while Phipps aggressive vocal approach can be best described as biting and venomous (Which ties in nicely with the politically motivated lyrical theme), but still easily decipherable.
‘Failure’ utilizes a little more melody within the songs slower delivery while bringing in a little more of the hardcore element, while ‘The Lying World’ combines the hardcore and the metallic influences with constant changes in tempos and plenty of breakdowns.
‘Black Hearts Now Reign’ (Of which the promotional video is included on the album) is a credit to Justain’s powerful drumming ability with plenty of moments of solo work, while ‘Zombie Autopilot’, ‘Lie To Purify’ and ‘Bloodlust Of The Human Condition’ has the Swedish sound once again (Arch Enemy) written all over it.
The title track from Unearth’s last EP ‘Endless’ has been given the re-recorded treatment, and while purists will insist that it’s inferior to the original, I tend to favour the notion that it actually ties in nicely with the sound that makes up the bulk of the new album, and is a worthy inclusion here.
The mostly instrumental ‘Aries’ (Apart from the screaming in the background) works well, but only as a distraction before finishing the album with ‘Predetermined Sky’ and the blazing closer ‘False Idols’.
Killswitch Engage’s Adam Dutkiewicz has again proven his talents behind the production desk in giving Unearth their best sound recording to date.
While The Oncoming Storm is nothing revolutionary within the metalcore scene, it does manage to propel Unearth up to the same level of excellence as fellow leading acts such Shadows Fall, God Forbid, Killswitch Engage and Hatebreed. Related Links:
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