Unearth
III: In The Eyes of Fire EP
Finding myself in the midst of moving to Wales, I thought what an opportune time to review some CDs, before the Editor discovers my address, comes down and gives me an Abba enema.
Still in the Metal frame of mind, and after reading the selling points of Unearth, and that they are akin to Killswitch Engage, which I am a little partial to, I thought what better way to introduce and scare the neighbours than play this?
‘This Glorious Nightmare’ gets stuck into your senses from the first chord and it is most definitely in the American Metal style. That’s not meant in a derogative way, just a lot of bands, not surprisingly following relative success, stick to the tried and trusted.
Short, sharp guitar riffs, pounding drums and vocals, which if they asked you to do something, you’d do it!! So far, nothing hugely original, but you cannot knock the quality of the recording and the fact that these guys are good at what they do.
‘Giles’ has some rather nice picky riffs, which do well to balance the treble from the bass, and just change the tempo a bit. One thing’s for certain though, it chugs at a constant rate and does not let up.
Being a fan, to some degree, of this kind of music, my only problem is that sooner or later it will cease to entertain. Much in the same way that nu-metal came and went within two years, how long will it be before the ‘Metal’ section in your local record shop will be changed to something else?
One thing that Unearth do have on their side is that they try to infuse some of the 80s rock bands, like Whitesnake etc., with more contemporary stuff. Mainly it’s down to the 80s-influenced guitar riffs that break in from time to time. And with lines like ‘down on our knees, we bow to hatred’ from ‘March of the Mutes’, you instantly have a bedroom anthem before you march off into town.
Lyrically as well, they are not in the ‘simple’ category. Sure they aren’t explaining chaos theory (who would want to?), but they are definitely not in the ‘cock-rock’ crowd, of explaining how they knocked up some girl, or how much everyone sucks.
Halfway through, and I’m reasonably impressed. There are very few CDs that I have reviewed that I have put onto my MP3 player, but I think Unearth will be on there before too long.
My personal favourite, ‘The Devil Has Risen’, is basically just under three and a half minutes of pure guttural emotion. The rises and falls, plus the hushed vocals in the middle just make it one of those tunes that, listening to full blast, makes you realise why Metal just plain rocks! Kinda obvious, but I know that the neighbours downstairs are probably bleeding from their ears right now.
You can imagine that live these guys must really come into their own. There is no attempting to be all poncey in little twiddly intros, it starts instantly, like a rollercoaster stuck on the fastest speed, possible before it comes hurtling off the tracks and taking out a busload of OAPs.
Whilst there is nothing hugely innovative, they are distinctive enough to warrant multiple listenings (if that’s a word). ‘Imposters Kingdom’ again just starts with a sudden explosion. They are like the Terminator, they will not stop…ever.
So to summarise, my neighbours hate me and will probably start to move/start legal action tomorrow.
Unearth rock and, if you like your music like you like your hand grenades on a short fuse, listen to them.
Written by Bradshaw on
