III: The Eyes Of Fire

Written by: PP on 05/09/2006 16:46:38

Unearth caused a storm in the metalcore scene with their 2001 debut "The Stings Of Conscience" and have long been considered as one of the pioneers and as one of the best bands within the metalcore movement. Forget about Trivium and Avenged Sevenfold, this is a band who was around when the genre had barely been conceived, before it turned into as trendy and popular mass-movement as it is today. They've been underappreciated during much of their existence since they have never quite delivered the commercial, softer edge bands like Bullet For My Valentine or Killswitch Engage did. Instead, they have always been considered as just a much angrier version with more Swedish melodeath influence than the others, and it shows through especially in the highlight of the album, the technical "Sanctity Of Brothers".

Unearth's songs have never been immediately catchy, and this is not the case on "III: The Eyes Of Fire" either. The listener is forced to dig deep into the core of the music to find the elements that justify labels like "pioneering", "great" or "forefronting" in the midst of the seemingly messy pounding where blast-beats and bass domination isn't spared, and even the guitars, though sounding melodic, sound so in an angry, nearly unlistenable manner. They swirl around you like a monster, attacking you from side to side until you surrender to their sheer power but yet enjoy the occasional melodic outbreak in tracks like "This Glorious Nightmare".

Unfortunately, all of this is rather tiresome, as an album like "III: The Eyes Of Fire" is about as uncommon on the metalcore market as a yellow cab in New York City. Bands like Bridge To Solace or A Love Ends Suicide have released this same album earlier this year, and though any album carrying the mighty name of Unearth immediately receives more attention, it isn't significantly better than these outings, and it certainly isn't "The Oncoming Storm", their renowned sophomore album that helped to shape the metalcore scene to be what it is today. Granted, the album is far more metal than "The Poison", but in a modern world filled with metalcore masterpieces like the now-classic Darkest Hour's "Undoing Ruin" or Avenged Sevenfold's "City Of Evil", it falls regrettably short from expectations, and sounds awfully alike most other outings today, mingling it into the unidentifiable mass of similar metalcore releases this year.


Download: Sanctity Of Brothers
For the fans of: Bridge To Solace, In Flames
Listen: Myspace

Release date 14.08.2006
Metal Blade
Provided by Target ApS

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