 
Tech metal masters Unearth’s brand new studio
album “Darkness in the Light” has
2 directions in which it could go. It could turn
out like either “The Oncoming Storm”
or “III: In the Eyes of Fire” which
we’re filled to the brim with ear shattering
breakdowns and some of the most technical riffs
in music to date; or it could turn out like their
last album “The March” which had a
few great tracks and just more average songs that
didn’t really live up to the standard of
the classic Unearth albums.
They waste absolutely no time in ripping my face
off; first track on the album “Watch it
Burn” bursts right into the chaos, extremely
quick verse riffs and massive breakdowns heavy
enough to make the strongest of men need new underpants.
One thing I do notice about this album is that
they’ve brought a much bigger metalcore
influence to the sound now; its most noticeable
in the second track “Ruination of the Lost”
with some sections being reminiscent of As I Lay
Dying’s sound which to be honest isn’t
a bad thing at all.
The best thing about the album is it has Unearth
written all over every track, you can just hear
that guitar tone that I will always associate
with Unearth; the vocals, the structure and the
technicality are the main things that keep this
band distinguishable and original after releasing
a fair few albums have kept on the right path
whilst not exhausting their style and becoming
repetitive. Should they start selling out to fit
into a scene they will lose everything they’ve
worked towards but from the amount of scenes that
have come and gone whilst this band has been on
the scene would dictate that they won’t
be losing their way anytime soon.
Some of my personal favourites by this band are
songs that kick off with harmonised riffs or with
higher pitched riffs over a heavy backing as it
gives it an atmosphere; songs like “Zombie
Autopilot”, “This Time Was Mine”
and “My Will Be Done” to name a few.
It’s beautiful to see that they still produce
material like this on the new release with songs
“The Fallen”, “Shadows in the
Light” and “Arise the War Cry”;
mostly because these songs have a foundation in
the form of the intro riff and then flair off
into all kinds of unbelievable guitar work and
low dropped dirtiness before returning to the
start so you really get to know it..
The final track of the album is quite a strange
one; “Disillusion” it’s called
and its definitely the same style as all the other
songs but the main riff and the drumming entwining
together makes for a very different edge to their
music and its really interesting.
On the whole I love the album it may possibly
be their strongest to date, I know none of the
tracks will ever surpass some of the classics
(“Sanctity of Brothers” will never
be beaten) but it’s from start to finish
filled with songs that are brilliant where the
others have a few amazing tracks then more like
fillers.
5/5
Review by James Webb
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