Unearth -- 'The Oncoming Storm' [classic review]

Unearth
"The Oncoming Storm"
(Metal Blade Records)


"It was the first time we ever really pre-produced before a record. We've never really had the chance to pick and choose what we liked before we recorded anything so it made the record turn out better. The album sounds a whole lot better because we had more money to do it. Anybody could really make a better album with more money to work with, but Adam gave us a great price on it and worked really hard to make it sound like it does. Everyone always asks "What's it like to work with Adam D.?" and honestly, it's great, he's one of my best friends and it was really cool. The thing is, we went and did all of the dirty work and everything, and Adam just made it sound like the greatest thing we could do. Everything turned out really cool."

-- Unearth guitarist Ken Susi on recording "The Oncoming Storm"

While Unearth's sound can comes across as epic and expansive, it's really pretty simple in terms of the song construction. Rather than crafting complicated structures and patterns (think Tool or, for a more metal feel, something like Meshuggah), the band opts to go for the throat quick. That's not to say the sound is simple, rather the manner in which the band makes its music. There's the solid riffs, the twin-guitar attacks, the machine-gun drumming and crushing groove of the bass. The band likes it's hardcore breakdowns and serves up plenty. Along the way, Trevor Phipps attacks the vocals with a callous abandon, but keeps from going too far over the "guttural" edge with his screams. Sure, he might not offer up the melodic breaks like Killswitch's Howard Jones, but there's always that subtle hint of melody just under the surface.

When Unearth serves up epic, it does so in style. Songs like "Zombie Autopilot" and "Bloodlust of the Human Condition" just tumble over and over again, expanding with each passing second. The band isn't shy with the anthemic riffs either. "Predetermined Sky" opens up a metallic surge of energy and, as an aside, the song almost perfectly encapsulates the band's dual personalities as it unfolds as a metal goliath but stumbles to a hardcore dirge by the close. In fact, the band pulls off the same feat on "Lie to Purify."

Along the way other elements of the genre are thrown in for good measure, whether it be some European flavor ("Failure"), speed metal ("False Idols") or something more American and completely destructive ("This Lying World").

Unlike other albums that instantly pulled me into a web, "The Oncoming Storm" doesn't unfold as a masterpiece, it simply is one. You can jump in at any point throughout the record and be hooked. And the group doesn't build from one song to the next, it simply offers up a barrage at any given moment. Even the piano interlude "Aries" has some sort of unique charm that manages to instantly intrigue.

While Unearth has undoubtedly paid its dues, the band still seemed to explode onto the metal scene out of nowhere. The group created a template that has been stolen and emulated time and time again, which is impressive given the group's relatively young age in the genre. Unearth has carved out a nice little niche for itself on the North American metal community and seems eager and willing to offer up more. I'm not sure how much influence going out on tours with bands that incorporate more melody into the metal proceedings could have affected the way the group chose to tackle it's next album. While it seems the band has a great work ethic and solid chops to back up any claims of greatness, one has to wonder how much Adam D's production added to what became "The Oncoming Storm." If he's on board will a follow-up simply be "Storm 2?" And if not, will someone else still be able to steer the band to another classic?

Various Artists -- 'Bring You to Your Knees' - hardcore tribute to Guns N' Roses [review]

Various Artists
"Bring You To Your Knees"
Law Of Inertia Records


Tribute albums are a tricky business. There are those that love them. There are those that hate them. But love them or hate them, tribute albums just don't seem to go away.

It's been almost 13 years since Gun N' Roses released a full-length studio album. Apart from a new GnR song showing up on a soundtrack here and there -- and it's a big here and there: a cover on 1994's "Interview with a Vampire" and a new track on 1999's "End of Days" -- the last impression the band left on the music scene was 1993's cover album, "The Spaghetti Incident?"

Well, it's now 2004 and, in turn, members of the hardcore and indie music scene have come together to cover Guns N' Roses. Even with only three full-length releases under its belt, GnR is a band whose influence can still be felt to this day, and "Bring You To Your Knees" aims to prove that.

Opening the CD much like GnR did back in 1987 with the familiar riffs of "Welcome to the Jungle" are underground legends Zombie Apocalypse. While initially staying true to the original (albeit slightly faster), ZA soon turn this rock classic into a full-out hardcore anthem while adding its own little nuances ("You know where you are? You're in the graveyard!")

Haste follow-up with an down-tuned, moody take on "You're Crazy." It's not a particularly inspired cover, but the band gives its own take on the song and, while essentially a straight up metal rendition, the bluesy-backbeat of the song really shines through the sludge (more so than I noticed on the original).

Massachusetts metal-band Unearth offer up "It's So Easy," complete with double-bass drumming throughout the entire track. The production on this track is what hurts it however, as the vocals are slightly muffled and blown out. And the band offers a little tongue-in-cheek nod to GnR frontman during the song's famous vocal bridge: "I see you standing there. You think you're so cool. Hey Axl! F**k off." But what Unearth lacks in the vocal department, the band makes up for it with interesting guitar breaks and solid drumming.

There's a handful of straightforward covers featured here:

-- Break The Silence's version of "Nighttrain" differs little from the original, apart from the more drawn out, snotty vocals. The band's guitarist does a great job mimicking the Slash outro guitar work too.

-- Death by Stereo's take on "Anything Goes" also differs little from the original, although the band's rendition of the song's chorus seems more fun than its predecessor: the lead singer grunting "my" and "your" while the band takes the rest of the line.

-- Eighteen Visions do justice to "Paradise City" keeping it simple. It seems like some of the lyrics may be slightly altered but this is another straight up cover until the song's close where everything gets slowed down and muddied up.

-- One of the most surprising takes on the disc is Every Time I Die's cover of "I Used to Love Her" that is remarkably close to the original. The production sounds a little more full than that of the original, but it was weird to hear ETID's frontman doing straight forward vocals.

-- God Fobid's "Out Ta Get Me" is also faithful to the original. The band's frontman growls a little more than usual through the song, but the band follows along nice and tight.

While the opening piano to Most Precious Blood's version of "Sweet Child O' Mine" sounds pretty artificial off the keyboard, the band's frontman more than makes up for the artificiality in his strained vocal delivery while the guitars chug along in the background. In fact, the band replaces almost all the guitar soloing throughout the track by the piano although, it should be noted, the lead guitarist does a fabulous job on the guitar solo preceding the "where do we go" bridge.

The Dillinger Escape Plan try to infuse some salsa into the opening of "My Michelle" before exploding into a punk-tinged out of control cover that seems impossible to sing along to. This is probably one of the album's lowest points, but still not terrible to listen to.

The album's other low point is the simple re-do of "14 Years" by Vaux. The band does a competent cover, but the song was never that interesting to begin with, and without any surprises it just doesn't stand up next to the other songs on here.

Bleeding Through tackle "Rocket Queen" turning the song into a sludgy hardcore track. As most of the other tracks on here, the vocals are more guttural while the music stays true to the original. The mid-point of the song that was originally filled with a drum solo (where the track turns from a rock anthem into a ballad) is done on keyboard (set to saxophone) here, and the band has a little fun singing answers during the song's closing moments: "If you need a shoulder (I need a shoulder), or if you need a friend (I need a friend), I be here standing until the bitter end (THAT sounds great)." Trust me, it's funny stuff.

The Beautiful Mistake offer up the album's second best track, "Estranged." Staying relatively close to the source material, the band offers up a nice compressed version of the song, although The Beautiful Mistake's vocalist has sounded better (he almost sounds whiney here). The piano solo is left intact and there's a great drum fill prior to "I knew the storm was getting closer ..." The only problem is the band never quite finishes the song as it sort of drifts off into feedback without the requisite "I never wanted it to die" with the lead singer holding onto the last note.

The disc's absolute highlight is Time In Malta's phenomenal cover of "November Rain." Upon first listen, it's almost impossible to connect the cover to the original in the opening until the vocals kick in. While turning a ballad like "November Rain" into a hardcore track seems like an impossible undertaking, Time in Malta seems to have done so with ease and crafted a song that feels entirely like its own. After the band lays into the "Everybody needs some time, on their own" bridge, the band adds in a break of "Spent such a long time, just trying to kill the pain." After the piano break right where the song begins to flourish for the final minutes (when Slash gets on the piano in the video to do his solo), the frontman growls "been through this such a long time" as the guitars ominously chug away in the background, over and over again with the drums filling in -- and then the band completely stops except for a single note on the guitar as the singer screams "We've been here such a long time, just trying to kill the pain," and then the guitars fill back in with the guitar and the whole effect is sure to give the listener chills of satisfaction as the band "takes it home" repeating "everybody" as the tracks fades away.

Most of the songs on here are pretty strong, and keep this release from sinking from the low points. There wasn't any need for a "14 Years" cover, and The Dillinger Escape Plan just sounded lazy. I have some problems with "Estranged," but that only because it's my favorite GnR track and I knew The Beautiful Mistake could do better with the ending. And the cover of "November Rain" is so good, it's worth tracking this release down just for this song (the rest is just garnish).