Unearth

Formed back in 1998, Unearth took the Metalcore scene by surprise with their debut album, The Sting of Consciousness. This album gave them huge recognition in the underground world of metal, but the release of their follow-up, The Oncoming Storm, brought even bigger praise. Pushed hard right into the mainstream, Unearth had to come up with an even better album. III: In The Eyes Of Fire is that album! These five awesome dudes are Trevor Phipps (vocals), Ken Susi (guitar), Mike Justian (drums), Buz McGrath (guitar), and John Maggard (bass).

Opening up on this killer album is “This Glorious Nightmare.” Right off the bat, you can immediately notice their change in performance; their music has progressed so much in such a short period of time. The song begins with a kick-ass drum roll, kicking the music into action. Trevor’s vocals haven’t changed a whole lot, which is probably better; he’s sticking to his roots rather than conforming to the mainstream. Ken and Buz kick some major “axe” throughout the entire track.

Fifth up on the LP would be “The Devil Has Risen,” which would probably make more sense if it were sixth on the album, considering six is the number of Satan (666 to be technical). The track begins kind of slow, which portrays their evolution as a band, proving that they don’t necessarily need to always be brutal. Once Trevor mentions “the eyes of fire,” the breakdowns kick in, pushing the track into overdrive. It’s truly unbelievable how fast all the members’ playing is.

“Impostors Kingdom” would be ninth on III: In The Eyes Of Fire. The first howl that escapes Trevor’s lips has got to be the most bone chilling scream I’ve heard come out from a set of vocal chords. I think the lyrics for this track are trying to get somebody to realize that they can’t always live in denial. That it’s only going to reflect poorly, causing an outburst of hidden emotions that may be too much for one person to handle. Beside the harshness of reality that Trevor puts across, the instrumental only accented the entire track. The guitar riff was mind-boggling, with the drums pounding indents into the ear drums.

On the whole, this has got to be the best album released by Unearth to date. If the band has improved this much in 8 years, I can’t even imagine how amazing they will be in another 8. I give this magnum opus a 9.2/10.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. This Glorious Nightmare
02. Giles
03. March of the Mutes
04. Sanctity of Brothers
05. The Devil Has Risen
06. This Time Was Mine
07. Unstoppable
08. So It Goes
09. Imposters Kingdom
10. Bled Dry
11. Big Bear and the Hour of Chaos

Run Time: 43:49