The sound of an Unearth breakdown.

I mean look, if you’re gonna think breakdowns, you can’t do much better than Unearth, right? Sure, these days there’s no shortage of bands hammering away with breakdowns packing the kind of planet-shattering efficiency that would make Dark Vader’s… uh… helmet, rock hard. There’s even bands that are pretty much just an endless, unrelenting string of breakdowns.

But in the giant spectrum that has become the world of Metalcore, Unearth were and always shall be the original breakdown kings. Killswitch has their hooks, Darkest Hour their riffs and builds, August Burns Red their maddening consistency, but Unearth was basically put on this earth for breakdowns – plain and simple. Their cache of At The Gates-inspired riffs and some In Flames-worshipping melodies? Great stuff, wouldn’t change them for the world. But is that why you ever pressed play on a new Unearth record? You and I both know the answer is “no.” So lets not kid ourselves and get to the friggin’ point: Does the self-appointed “Metalcore GOAT” still deliver the goods?

Well, right off the bat, Unearth lets the world know that time and age have done nothing to calm the oncoming storm (heh heh). Nor, for that matter, has the loss of guitarist and founding member Ken Susi, whose parting with the band, while seeming amicable enough, apparently was the result of “differences of opinion” (I certainly couldn’t speculate what that actually means, though I can’t help but find it… interesting, that he left to join a band with as much controversy surrounding them as As I Lay Dying, especially in the wake of pretty much everyone deciding they no longer wanted to work with the guy convicted of trying to assassinate his wife. I dunno, make of it what you will).

The opening title track, “The Wretched; The Ruinous” explodes out the gate with a pair of gunshot snare hits that suggest perhaps the band is still leaning on the more hardcore-forward, somewhat return-to-roots sound that marked their last album, Extinctions(s) – and those thoughts aren’t necessarily unfounded, as TW;TR certainly packs a lot of that Metallic Hardcore punch throughout its duration, but in this case, it’s just the cannon blast necessary to wring in the whole breadth of Unearth‘s repertoire: First a fury of ground-and-pound riffs and machine gun drumming that mark the awesome return of The Oncoming Storm and III: In the Eyes of Fire drummer Mike Justian (also of The Red Chord, Trap Them and Madball fame), then the high-flying Melodeath melodies that have marked so many of Unearth‘s pre-choruses and hooks throughout the years.

Frankly, I wasn’t too worried about that element going missing, as I always kind of assumed that was more Buz McGrath at work than Susi, but then the moment we were all waiting for enters the fray: Everything pauses, the drums build up, and BANG – right on schedule comes the savage, spin-kick-begging, make-no-mistake-it’s-Unearth breakdown. It doesn’t re-write the book, I wouldn’t even go so far as to say it’s an especially noteworthy breakdown in Unearth‘s collection of absolute barn burners, but it sounds exactly as its supposed to, and that’s just fine. McGrath even tosses in a sweet little solo on the track for good measure, an element that has never been as consistent a part of the band’s formula as his playing I felt always deserved. What I did NOT see coming was the monstrous end of the track, where the band busts out another sort-of breakdown, but one that’s backed by some super-infectious gang vocals taken straight out of the Wizard of Oz castle guards/Metallica “Frayed Ends of Sanity” playbook (“Oh wee oh….”). It’s a swaggering, epic conclusion and sounds like nothing I’ve heard the band utilize before, suggesting maybe McGrath feels a little freer to let loose on this record.

There are certainly other examples that seem to back this theory – like at the beginning of “Mother Betrayal,” where the band breaks out some echoing, monastic chanting over an epic build that feels more like something Dimmu Borgir might produce than Unearth, and it’s a super epic way to introduce another banger of a breakdown that kicks the song officially into gear. The song even goes on to feature some almost-blackend riffing, and some more high-registered screaming than we’re really used to from Trevor Phipps, who sounds great, and even a bit rejuvenated after his performance on Extinction(s) which, while not bad by any stretch, at times felt a bit strained. In the vain of providing some different elements, “Dawn of the Militant” is pretty much a straight-up Crossover Thrash effort that comes in guns blazing, whips up a furious circle pit, and gets out again just as quickly (granted, it does end on an absolute bruiser of a breakdown, in appropriate Unearth fashion).

Then there’s “Broken Arrow,” which gets even more simplistic in its approach, opting to start with a pummeling Hardcore beatdown, before breaking into an chorus that owes itself as much to Corrosion of Conformity or Kyuss as it does anyone else. It’s a fun quick-hitter that catches you a bit off guard and helps TW;TR become one of Unearth‘s more varied and ambitious records.

Ah, but those of you simply here for the Unearth you’ve come to love and need in your life will find more than enough to satisfy, as well. “Cremation of the Living” is as as classic Unearth as you could imagine, featuring both some of the more blasting, technical wizardry of Watchers of the Rule, and the catchy Melodeath sensibilities of The Oncoming Storm,  and again puts Buz McGrath at the forefront with another excellent solo that has Unearth sounding more and more metal as hell by the minute.

“Eradicator” serves as the album’s first real bruiser, sounding like it could even be a holdover from Extinction(s) and giving even some of those old school The Stings of Conscience vibes that would make any long time fan giddy with excitement. And then there’s the pièce de résistance, “Invictus,” which starts with that unmistakably Unearth busy, tapping guitar work over a much heavier backbone, and goes on to cover nearly every era of the band’s illustrious career, including a pair of what I’d vote as the band’s biggest, baddest breakdowns on the record. They even break out that one super-melodic offering in “Into the Abyss” they’ve always been good for a-la “Zombie Autopilot” or “So It Goes” that prove the band always had a foot firmly planted in the early In Flames/At the Gates-obsessed days of American Metalcore. Again, it’s an album that really is all things for all Unearth fans.

I will say, The Wretched; The Ruinous doesn’t necessarily have the immediate impact that Extinction(s)’ more in-your-face, stripped-back delivery had, or the more technically-wowing Watchers of the Rule that I’d still probably rank as the band’s highest point, but make no mistake, this is a really good Unearth  record that, over time, I suspect has a chance to grow on me even more. Without question, it’s an album that has expanded Unearth‘s sound more than any previous album ever has, and while some of the newer elements may take a little more time to fully settle in, I very much appreciate that the band, and Buz McGrath in particular, took the opportunity to take a couple chances and do something a bit new, even while still delivering the core elements we wanted all along.

This could well be the start of a whole new era for a band that really doesn’t have anything to prove after 25 years, and that in and of itself is pretty dang neat. Another stellar offering from one of Metalcore’s finest.

Thankfully the album foregoes a worthless instrumental opener and kicks right into gear. The first thing that jumps out at you is vocalist Trevor Phipps. He seems extremely motivated on this album and it shows through from the get-go. Dude was probably munching throat drops like Skittles following the recording of this album. But then almost three minutes in you get… what is this? Clean vocals?!? They seem out of place, and to put it bluntly downright whiny. They show up again in track three and those are even worse. It does show these guys willing to expand a little bit, but thankfully they don’t show up too often or hang around too long so it doesn’t threaten to sink an otherwise solid ship.

They get back on track with “Ruination of the Lost”, and continue to pummel in true Unearth style. In addition to their ever present heft, one impressive thing that jumped out listening to this album is that almost every song contained a very well done guitar solo. Like ones that make you double check who you’re listening to. The solo that kicks in at the 2:10 mark of “Last Wish” would be right at home on a Slayer album. There is some seriously good fretwork going on that adds another dimension to their songwriting and further helps to keep genre haters at bay.

And the breakdowns? Oh yes kids, they haven’t forgotten a trademark of the genre they themselves have put a huge stamp on. Besides well placed, but not overdone, mid-song breakdowns, one thing Unearth seems to do better than anyone else is what I can only refer to as the ‘breakdown closer’. A lot of bands will close with a breakdown of about ten or fifteen seconds, but these guys have become masters at stretching one out for thirty seconds or more. Check the ending half-minute to the track “Eyes of Black”. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, if that doesn’t get your head bobbing then you’re probably paralyzed from the neck down.

The album closes in blistering, pissed-off fashion with “Disillusion.” It starts out showing the solid double bass work of drummer Justin Foley (Killswitch Engage) before Phipps and company jump in to really take things up another level. Add in a catchy chorus and a killer breakdown halfway through, and it just tosses gasoline onto an already roaring fire.

Overall this is a very solid addition to the Unearth lineup. Those of you who don’t like the genre won’t jump on the bandwagon now, but if you appreciate those who started it there is a lot to like here. Unearth is not going to make a Morbid Angel-style genre bender – they do what they do best, and they do it better than about ninety percent of their competitors. In my opinion these guys are welcome to show up whenever they want. If anybody’s earned it, they have.

UNEARTH
Tour w/ Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, Vision Of Disorder
08/29 Wantagh, NY Bay Stage @ Jones Beach
Tour w/ Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, Once Beloved, Anti-Love, A View Of A Burning City
08/30 Northampton, MA Pearl Street
European tour w/ Chimaira, Throwdown, Daath
09/15 Biebob, BE Vosselaar
09/16 Hamburg, DE Markthalle
09/17 Kopenhagen, DK Pumpenhuset
09/18 Oslo, NO Betong
09/19 Gothenburg, SE Brew House
09/20 Stockholm, SE Klubben
09/22 Helsinki, FI Nostori
09/23 Tallinn, EE Rock Cafe
09/24 Riga, LV Meina Piektdiena
09/25 Warsaw, PL Progresia
09/26 Berlin, DE Colulmbia Club
09/27 Vienna, AT Szene
09/29 Frankfurt, DE Batschkapp
09/30 Osnabruck, DE N8
10/01 Praha, CS Abadon
10/02 Budapest, HU Diesel
10/03 Munchen, DE Backstage
10/04 Bologna, IT Estragon
10/06 Paris, FR Locomotive
10/07 Limonges, FR Espace de L’Ecluse
10/08 Pratteln, CS Z7
10/09 Koln, DE Essigfabrik
10/10 Metz, FR Tattoo Fest
10/11 Rotterdam, NL Watt
10/12 London, UK Electric Ballroom

http://www.myspace.com/unearth
http://www.unearth.tv

The formula, as with like minded act Killswitch Engage, is simple; deft Swedish dual guitar harmonies, hardcore breakdowns and a thrash back bone all wrapped up in a polished and marketable form of metal. That being said, there is an immediate improvement on The March that’s apparent from galloping opener “My Will be Done”; Unearth have finally unleashed guitarists (the underrated) Buzz McGrath and Ken Susi. Solos abound, The March features more sumptuous leads and melodies than the last two offerings, that just seem far more deliberate, melodic and elegant.

Underneath the many, many solos, is Unearth’s robust, expected sound that they have now perfected. Crunchy riffs, Trevor Phipps raspy shout (with no clean croons), John Maggard’s steady bass and Derek Kerwill’s stout drums. But as you listen to standout tracks like “Crow Killer”, “Grave of Opportunity”, “We Are Not Anonymous”, “The March”, “Cutman” and “Truth or Consequence” (though I could have done without the 2 minutes of white noise that proceeds a pretty sturdy hidden track, “Silence Caught The Stubborn Tongue”) which all feature some sort of killer guitar flourish that just adds something special to the already solid material. Not that The Oncoming Storm or Chapter III were bereft of solos or had crappy solos, but there was some filler but on The March something has just fully ‘clicked’, and resulted in a far more dynamic and pleasing album rather than just another Unearth album or American metal album. Also helping, is that producer Adam Adam Dutkiewicz appears to have found a slightly more natural and organic sound for Unearth as opposed to the rigid, over produced, clinical feel of the last two albums. You could construe penultimate ballad “Letting Go” as a negative, but personally it adds a little depth and restraint to the album, though it would have been the perfect endnote to the album. There also seems slightly less reliance on telegraphed breakdowns which will upset the Hot Topic crowd, but it just adds to the more mature feel of the album.

You are hard pressed to find bands that improve their four albums into the game, but somehow Unearth, while certainly a different band from 1999s genre defining debut, appear to have cemented their status as one of the genres most important and steady acts and shown they can improve and develop rather than simply rest on their laurels.

Influential metal quintet UNEARTH has completed work on its new album. Entitled The March, the record is scheduled to drop on October 14 via Metal Blade Records.

The March was recorded at both MA’s System Recording Studios and Zing Studios with producer Adam Dutkiewicz. The album is said to feature UNEARTH’s “most dynamic material to date,” combining strong tension and release, abundant guitar solos and a bulldozing power-groove.

On the topic of the new album, UNEARTH front man Trevor Phipps states, “”The March” symbolizes both the evil and hopeful sides of humanity. The Evil: With the constant balancing act of power within government, religion and our financial institutions, there lies the chance of those most hungry for power to alter and restrict our freedoms for their gain. The Hopeful: This represents the faith in mankind as the most powerful force on the planet. If we come together and do not fight over religion, class and borders then we hold the key to a peaceful world. There are two possible futures in store; either a March of power and greed or a March of a unified human race.”

The final track listing for The March is as follows:

1.) My Will Be Done
2.) Hail the Shrine
3.) Crow Killer
4.) Grave of Opportunity
5.) We Are Not Anonymous
6.) The March
7.) Cutman
8.) The Chosen
9.) Letting Go
10.) Truth or Consequence

In advance of The March’s release, UNEARTH will launch a U.S. headlining tour, which will kick off on October 1 in Baltimore, MD. Presented by Live Nation, the scheduled four week, 26 city tour will feature support from Protest the Hero, The Acacia Strain, Whitechapel and Gwen Stacy.

“In accordance with UNEARTH’s continuing commitment to provide fans with “the most mayhem for your dollar,” we are proud to announce our upcoming U.S. tour!” states UNEARTH’s Buz McGrath. “We will be debuting a couple of new songs from “The March” for your sonic consumption, so come on out and lose your head! Everyone in UNEARTH is super pumped to get back on the road and meet some new people – see you soon!”

On August 1, UNEARTH will make a special main stage appearance at the 2008 Wacken Open Air Festival. “Wacken” is the largest exclusively metal music festival in the world and will see UNEARTH share the stage with Iron Maiden, At the Gates, Carcass and more.

In late August, UNEARTH will perform two live shows in Anchorage, AK. Immediately following, the band will perform amongst the featured acts at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival, where they will share the stage with a diverse range of artists including The Black Keys, Beck, Man Man, Battles and more. Bumbershoot is an international music and arts festival held annually in Seattle, Washington. One of North America’s largest such festivals, it takes place every Labor Day weekend at the 74-acre Seattle Center, which was originally built for the 1962 World’s Fair.

In anticipation of the new UNEARTH album, Metal Blade Records has designed special PC and Mac “news widgets” that fans can download to their desktops and receive updated news, tour information and special behind-the-scenes studio reports in real time. The UNEARTH “news widgets” are available for Mac Dashboard (Mac only), Google Desktop and Yahoo Widgets (PC only) and can be downloaded now at this location.

UNEARTH formed in 1998 and in the decade since, has become one of the U.S.’ most proven metal bands, shifting over 400,000 units over the course of its career. The group’s tireless touring schedule has seen it perform alongside some of the genre’s most revered names (including tours with Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne as part of Ozzfest [2004 and 2006] and a 2007 U.S. tour as hand-picked direct support for thrash titans Slayer), and also headline venues the world over, consistently helping give rise to some of extreme music’s fresh blood in the process. In 2007, UNEARTH contributed a song, titled “The Chosen”, to the popular film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, appearing on the movie’s standout soundtrack amidst contributions from Andrew W.K., Mastodon, The Hold Steady and more.

In addition to Phipps and McGrath, UNEARTH features guitarist Ken Susi, bassist John Maggard and drummer Derek Kerswill.

UNEARTH is available to speak with interested media now. To chat with the band, request a review copy of The March / attend a live performance, simply contact ACTION! PR via any of the means listed below. Updated UNEARTH news and tour information will be made available via the UNEARTH web domains: www.unearth.tv and www.myspace.com/unearth, the Metal Blade Records website: www.metalblade.com and the ACTION! PR website: http://www.action-pr.com.
 

UNEARTH tour dates:

August 1 Wacken, Germany Wacken Open Air 2008 (w/ Iron Maiden, Children of Bodom, Job For A Cowboy and more)
August 28 Anchorage, AK Chilkoot Charlie’s
August 29 Anchorage, AK Club Millennium
August 30 Seattle, WA Bumbershoot Festival 2008 (w/ The Black Keys, Beck, Man Man, Battles and more)
UNEARTH U.S. “The March” headlining tour:
(with support provided by Protest the Hero, The Acacia Strain, Whitechapel and Gwen Stacy)

October 1 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
October 2 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of The Living Arts
October 3 Williamsville, NY @ Club Infinity
October 4 Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s
October 5 Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
October 7 Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
October 8 Sauget, IL @ Pop’s
October 9 Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre
October 10 Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre
October 11 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Avalon Theater
October 12 Orangevale, CA @ The Boardwalk
October 13 San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
October 14 West Hollywood, CA @ House of Blues
October 15 Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee
October 17 San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
October 18 Lubbock, TX @ The Foundation
October 19 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
October 20 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
October 22 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
October 23 Saint Petersburg, FL @ The State Theatre
October 24 Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
October 25 Jacksonville, FL @ Freebird Live
October 26 Charleston, SC @ Music Farm
October 28 Charlotte, NC @ Tremont Music Hall
October 29 Norfolk, VA @ NorVa
October 30 New York, NY @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza

UNEARTH is currently recording at MA’s System Recording Studios with producer Adam Dutkiewicz, while the album’s drum tracks are being laid to tape by drummer Derek Kerswill (Kingdom of Sorrow, Seemless) at Zing Studios. The as-yet-untitled record is said to feature the band’s “most dynamic material to date,” combining strong tension and release, abundant guitar solos and a bulldozing power-groove.

“HEAVY METAL SHRED MAYHEM! NOW WITH 50% MORE GUITAR SOLOS!! If the new Unearth songs were laundry detergent, then this is what it would say on the box,” dishes UNEARTH lead guitarist Buz McGrath. “Fortunately for all you metal maniacs, it’s not laundry soap but a mind-blowing journey consisting of epic mosh and shred, so we had to call in the one man who could wrangle such a massive beast – Adam Dutkiewicz. We are very excited to be working with him again and between 40 oz. chugging and doing burn-outs in Ken’s ’82 Corvette, we are recording what will definitely be the best album of our career.”

A “teaser” look at UNEARTH working in the studio can be accessed via the band’s MySpace page at this location. Additional looks at the recording of the album, including fly-on-the-wall video footage, riffs and excerpts of new music will be made available in the coming weeks.

UNEARTH formed in 1998 and in the decade since, has become one of the U.S.’ most proven metal bands, shifting over 400,000 units over the course of its career. The group’s tireless touring schedule has seen it perform alongside some of the genre’s most revered names (including tours with Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne as part of Ozzfest [2004 and 2006] and a 2007 U.S. tour as hand-picked direct support for thrash titans Slayer), and also headline venues the world over, consistently helping give rise to some of extreme music’s fresh blood in the process. In 2007, UNEARTH contributed a song, titled “The Chosen”, to the popular film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, appearing on the movie’s standout soundtrack amidst contributions from Andrew W.K., Mastodon, The Hold Steady and more.

On August 1, UNEARTH will make a special main stage appearance at the 2008 Wacken Open Air Festival. “Wacken” is the largest exclusively metal music festival in the world and will see UNEARTH share the stage with Iron Maiden, At the Gates, Carcass and more.

In addition to McGrath, UNEARTH features vocalist Trevor Phipps, guitarist Ken Susi, bassist John Maggard and drummer Derek Kerswill.

While I personally still think that Stings of Conscience and the Endless EP are the bands best efforts, there is no denying the material from The Oncoming Storm and III has struck a chord with today’s younger metal fans, and thus the performance culls mostly from those two.  That being, said “Only the People” and “One Step Away” make a welcome return to the bands set, despite being not nearly as structured and breakdown friendly as their newer material. Obvious fan favorites “This Glorious Nightmare”, “Black Hearts Now Reign”, “Zombie Autopilot”, “Giles” and (one of my very personal favorite Unearth songs) “Endless” make their expected appearances along with lots of speaker jumping, guitar spinning, and prompts for moshing and moving from gradually soaking but ever energetic frontman Trevor Phipps. Ken Susi remains one of the more animated and entertaining guitarists around and the band as a whole seems to enjoy playing live, as I can attest to from their Sounds Of the Underground performance a few years ago.

The second disc is a mixed bag of mostly filler and promotional videos.  The filler being some insight into the band and their early years with ‘interviews’ with various metal (Blade) luminaries (Corey Taylor, Adam D, Brian Fair, Dino Cazarez, Scott Vogel, Phil Labonte, Tim Lambesis, etc) talking about how great and influential Unearth were/are and the band themselves talking about the bands formation and early years.  Of interest though is lots of photos and home video footage of the bands very early (and very short haired), basement/bar room shows.

There are also two more live tracks, “Zombie Autopilot” from Full-Force in Germany and  “Sanctity of Brother” from a show in Japan as well a slide show, and videos for “Black Hearts Now Reign”, “Zombie Autopilot”, The Great Dividers”, ” Sanctity of Brothers”, “Giles”. “One Step Away” and “Endless” which when not mostly simple live footage, definitely show of the budget benefits of being on Metal Blade.

A well produced, polished DVD from a well produced and polished band, who seem to be on the cusp of a major label deal, and due to their hard work and energy, deservedly so.

Press releases before the album hit the streets said that III was going to be Unearths’ heaviest and darkest release to date. Damn straight it is. Actually, a friend of mine commented on how pissed off it sounded when he first heard it. Thrash riffs galore! Guitar players Buz McGrath and Ken Susi are talented players, and the breakdowns are the finest to come out of Boston. “Imposters Kingdom” executes the most hateful breakdown on the record. It’s so damn pummeling you can’t help but laugh. There are plenty moments on this album that give me goose bumps and make the hair raise on my neck.

I really can’t say that anything here is original but Unearth have enough style to hold interest. Although I praise the record, it’s the same thing we have heard before from the Boston acts, just more death/thrash. Drumming is exhausting, the guitars are thrashy, solos are released ridiculously well, and the vocals are as only Trevor can deliver. There are no clean vocals in Unearths music, and if that were to happen – well lets just say they wouldn’t be the same band. There isn’t a shred of mainstream lean here. Unearth are just very likable, and with topics surrounding the worlds issues, who can’t enjoy them? Plus they bring those familiar riffs to the table.

Where the record will fail to hold attention lies in the fact that there isn’t much diversity. To me that’s not a problem, but when your talking about Boston’s heavyweights, I fear the popular crowd won’t give this record as much as it deserves. Unearth are one of Boston’s heavy hitters, and they have already turned heads more that a few times with this release and their back catalogue. I hope they keep going strong because this is yet another fine example of what American metal is all about. Strongly recommended listening.

When The Stings of Conscience was released in 2001, the new generation of Swedish infused metalcore spearheaded by the likes of Poison The Well and Prayer For Cleansing, was still relatively young. Now only a few short years later, the host of bands fusing Swedish death metal and hardcore has grown exponentially, and some of them are doing it rather well, and ultimately using Unearth as a template. So ironically, the end result is a high quality album that sounds like a lot of other recent high quality metalcore albums – which originally copied Unearth’s formula. If you enjoyed the Endless MCD, The Oncoming Storm won’t disappoint, (you get a reworked version of the EP’s title track) the melodies and harmonies are leaps above their debut album, as is the accessibility factor, and much like Killswitch Engage’s sophomore album, the recipe for consistent solid songs is rampantly repetitive, yet satisfying.

Starting with “The Great Dividers,” the first finger twiddling Maiden/NWSDM worship solo of many appears at 1:39, followed by a stout breakdown – and that essentially lays the ground work for the rest of the album. “Failure” opens with some superb harmonies and ends with an even more epic climax, which cements, despite the album’s familiar gait, Unearth do pen some of the best melodies in the genre. The fact the genre has morphed, sucked in grindcore and death metal, no longer makes Unearth one of metalcore’s true heavyweights, as they’ve been surpassed by many bands. However, they do have enough guts and more importantly semblance of intertwining their breakdowns with their astute sense or harmony that makes the overall result a solid middle ground covering sound. “Zombie Autopilot,” is as Swedish as anything from Gothenburg, with a breakdown thrown in.

While on the topic of Swedish metal, as I listen to this album, I can’t get rid of the feeling that this is Unearth’s (and along with KsE’s The End of Heartache, possibly metalcore’s) Clayman. That’s to say, it’s an album that contains all the traits of a genre well established perfectly executed, but glosses it over with features that could make it more consumable for the mainstream. With the exception of the rather ho-hum acoustic/piano instrumental “Aries” each song, contains a pattern of fine-crafted solos that seem just wrapped around stout but formulaic breakdowns. That’s not to say they are not enjoyable, far from it. Tracks like “Bloodlust of the Human Condition” and “False Idol,” gallop with an addictive, well practiced fury and pace that demand concurrent air guitar playing and moshing in large amounts. Only the slightly bluesy start to “Lie to Purify” seems to break Unearth’s well used but enjoyable mold.

I was glad to hear the lack of clean choruses a la Howard Jones, as Trevor Phipps keeps an impassioned but now all too common scream as his main delivery, with only the aforementioned “Lies to Purify” and “Endless” containing noticeably more clean vocals (courtesy of guitarist Ken Susi) other than the other few moments of introspective whisperings.

Production wise, it didn’t sit perfectly with me. The same issues as label mates As I Lay Dying seem to hamper this album; the drums sound too processed and canned, and though slightly due to the reigned is song structures, Unearth seem a little less abrasive than on The Stings of Conscience. Compare “Endless” from this album and the MCD, the LP version of the song’s particularly nice breakdown doesn’t seem to have the weight of the EP version. Still, though thanks to the guitar work of Buz McGrath and Ken Susi, The Oncoming Storm is very entertaining, even if is doesn’t quite reach the same between album improvement factor as other sophomore efforts by All That Remains, Dead to Fall and Age of Ruin, although, again I feel the growth of the genre is partially responsible. That being said, Unearth have the Metal Blade publicity machine and a somewhat legendary status, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see this surface on the Billboard charts. Deservedly so – take that as you will.

Defying every expectation set upon the hardcore genre, The Stings of Conscience draws upon the bottomless pool of European metal talent (plus the occasional overt American influence) and melds it with traditional hardcore. The result brings about the most blissfully indulgent, entrancing, and overall greatest hardcore release ever put to this reviewer’s ears. After a pleasant, but normal opening track, the unleashing of terror and technical dismay arrives on, “One Step Away,” when the lead guitar suddenly bursts into a sparkling array of repetitive siren-like guitar harmonics, almost George Lynch-ian in nature minus 110 percent of Dokken (if that makes any sense). From this point on, I was enthralled – my attention was completely taken for the entire duration of this blistering album – something strangely unfamiliar in these times of insurmountable promo piles.

“Only the People” throws out the first blatant influence when strikingly right in the middle of the song, the guitars break into the all too familiar upbeat In Flames gallop. Now let’s journey through the centerpiece title track, which reads as a musical bible for who’s who in 90s extreme metal. Rapid-fire Children of Bodom guitars begin the event, quickly shifting from In Flames riffery to the progressive head shifting artistry of Cynic and Atheist. Soon the guitars flourish into a thick Gothenburg-esque movement which could have easily been culled from Eucharist’s Mirrorworlds, before shifting back into progressive hardcore territory. Sound of Perseverance-era Death rises forth, as syncopated drums guide the music into a flourishing Mike Amott-Carcass meets In Flames finish. Whew! You get the picture, but to paint it clearer, here are several other influences you are bound to stumble across on The Stings of Conscience: Naglfar, Dark Tranquility, Meshuggah, At the Gates, Soilwork, Only Living Witness, Katatonia, Opeth and countless more. Even if it is for a brief moment, they exist regardless of whether or not this unknown American hardcore band from Massachusetts intended it to be so.

Vocalist Trevor Phipps has a traditional hardcore rasp, interspersing them with clean segments that recall Poison the Well’s finer moments. At the same time, the tight busy drumming of Mike Rudberg, along with bassist Chris Rybicki are the rhythmic glue that make the twin guitar dynamics of Buz McGrath and Ken Susi sound so goddamn profound. Eulogy strikes again! What are you waiting for? Go buy this, now!