Our music environment is ever changing from one flavor to the next yet there are only a handful of bands who manage to hold on and make albums true to themselves and that stand out from the rest and UNEARTH manages to take the next step in their songwriting that allows them to maintain their stronghold yet reach a new level without selling their soul at the crossroads. While The Oncoming Storm was a huge standout and one of the best albums in the past 10 years, the follow up, III fell a few steps off the mark which I think may have been due to guidance from producer Terry Date. Date has done great work in the past with PANTERA and SOUNDGARDEN, but his style didn’t translate to that of UNEARTH. Now that our boys from Massachusetts have been back in the studio with Adam Dutkiewicz to take us back to their past success, they now possess a better approach to their songwriting.

One of the elements that carried Unearth from the rest of the pack was their song structure and melody in which now they take the guitar passages with fluidity to create tracks like “We Are Not Anonymous”, “Cutman”, and “Grave Of Opportunity.” And even though we have more melody on The March, we still have the energy yet it is more controlled chaos as opposed to all out aggression that we heard in the past. In fact, we see a more focused Trevor Phipps whose distinct, raspy growl seems to sit in a more comfortable position in songs like “Crow Killer” and “The Chosen” where he concentrates more on his message by repetition of a chorus that the crowd can chant along with in concert. The rhythm section of of John Maggard on bass and Derek Kerswill on drums are the perfect foundation for the guitartronics of Ken Susi and Buzz McGrath who both step out to layer the melodies and give the crunch in guitar tone that adds a new element and make this a standout effort and a great improvement over III. Although some of the intricasies and speed are not as prevalent as with past releases, it does not harm the overall potency that the quintet possess. I would look at The March to be the album to prove to the masses that Unearth are the real thing and are here to stay.

Rating: 9/10
Label: Metal Blade
www.unearth.tv

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 12:22 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Gunface138 wrote:

I thought III was the best so far. I didn’t really like Oncoming Storm so much, and III just sounded thrashier. But from the little that I’ve heard of The March, it sounds good and I’m excited.

October 10th, 2008 at 12:00 pm

Slimjim367 wrote:

nahh
oncoming storm was amazing
it totally killed unearths wannabe progression in III
oncoming is a clasic

October 14th, 2008 at 7:41 am

Me wrote:

oncoming storm has more slick production and some great song structures. zombie autopilot is an amazing piece of work, but I thought III was riff-tastic. they’re both great, but I probably spin III more often. need more time to truly get into this new one, we’ll see how it goes.

October 15th, 2008 at 7:28 pm

Ant Henthorn wrote:

The march is brilliant!

October 17th, 2008 at 4:39 pm

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