Unearth

I really don't know what came over me. There I was sitting on the bus on my way to work when I slid in Unearth's Our Days of Eulogy into my CD walkman and I was suddenly overcome with the urge to get off the bus and cause mayhem; metal mayhem. I pulled the stop signal cord and exited the bus at the next stop, but not before I pissed on a nun in the seat in front of me and flicked off some children. I then ventured through some snow where I came by a tavern. I sat down hastily on a barstool and slammed down three shots of vodka and preceded to pickup on a man there that I knew was a loner. I convinced him to walk into a nearby forest with me where I killed him just to watch him die.

I thought nothing of the murder I had just committed but could only think of the Norse god Thor and his "Almighty Hammer" as I tramped through the snow back to my apartment. When I got there I came across my band mate, Vargas of the Dead, in his room. He'd recently blown his own brains out with a shotgun and the gore of his skull and brains was splattered like a tapestry behind him. I knew I had to call the cops but before I could dial 911, I scooped up a couple pieces of skull and fashioned a nice necklace of them. Why did I commit all these heinous crimes against the living and the recently dead? Because Unearth is fucking metal and things just happen when you listen to metal.

Actually, nowadays in underground metal scene you probably strap yourself into your sister's "fat day" jeans and commit fatalities in the pit to some siqq e-chord mosh-parts. That's what metal has become these days and Unearth along with bands like As I Lay Dying and Killswitch Engage are at the forefront of this new wave of American heavy metal. All these new metal bands or "metalcore" as the kids like to call them, all come from a hardcore background. However, they have more in common with Deicide and Venom than do with Minor Threat or Youth of Today.

Unearth is one of few metalcore bands I can tolerate do to the fact that Ken Susi and Buz McGrath are technical wizards when it comes to dueling melodic guitar interplay. Susi and McGrath also shine during guitar solos where they both showoff some killer guitar wankery. Unearth also knows how to use a mosh part, but doesn't write an entire song around them. The breakdowns are done tastefully enough that even the most metal of metal dudes can throw up the horns in appreciation.

Our Days of Eulogy is collection of Unearth's two EPs and a live recording of a show in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York where mosh-calls were had and somehow a fruitcake was involved. It sounds like the kids were having a good time fighting for the mic and I can just see the spin kicks and cartwheels flying by the stage. The best thing about Our Days of Eulogyis that you get an original recording of "Endless" that is home to not one but two of the most devastating and telegraphed mosh-parts since Slayer's Reign in Blood.

I'm way over metalcore. It's a scene that I just feel bad for the bands playing it because their fans are douchebags that act all tough at huge package band tours before they all retreat to the 'burbs for the evening. Unearth is a good band though, and I really can't hate them for being in the thick of dumb scene. Unearth brings the metal and they do it well. So get Our Days of Eulogy and mosh the night away in your room. I'd join you if I could but I have to explain to the cops why there is a corpse in the next room and why my hands are covered in the blood of a body they found in the nearby forest. Thor please come save me with your divine hammer and whisk me away to Valhalla because these cops just don't understand the power of metal.

5.3 / 10 — Jason