Release Date: August 8, 2005
Reviewed by Nathaniel Shannon
Moshmetal. Cute hair. Girl pants. Everyone who likes “heavy music” is quickly becoming aware of the new wave of terrible fashion that co-exists with the new breed of “extreme” music. Where most hardcore bands of 6 years ago turn in the chugs for some dude that can shred. Unearths new record, “in the eyes of fire”, is exactly what I expected it to be when I sat down to review it. Slick solos, catchy, almost pop hooks, sick mosh parts and inspirational…if you want to call them that lyrics that I’m sure tons of 18 year old kids with floppy hair can identify with. Unearth is not a bad band by any means, having displayed much talent over their journey from the unknown, to one of the leading hot new “metal” bands in the music industry today. However, this genre of music is becoming very force-fed and unoriginal. These guys are capable of being so much more innovative, and reach beyond the simple moshmetal formula that bands started writing 10 years ago, and is still being carbon copied every minute of every day. III: In the eyes of fire, is nothing new. It’s nothing old. It’s mundane…plain and simple, the song writing is just nowhere near to what it has been with their previous efforts.
Thanks to Ozzfest, Sounds of the Underground, and other such tours that are doing their best to make as much money as possible before the mass public doesn’t want to buy metal records again (like what happened 10 years ago when everyone thought death metal was dead), Unearth has grown a huge fan base since their conception as another cookie cutter east coast hardcore/metal band. Which I might add is very respectable, but their fans don’t write their music (thank God.) I have no doubt this record is totally going to sell a shit ton of copies…but what you have to ask yourself is…do I really need to listen to this? There a million bands who came before Unearth, doing exactly what Unearth does, but more pissed, more heavy, and for sure much more metal.
The problem I really have with this record (if it hasn’t become obvious) is Unearth is not pushing any new ground. This sounds exactly like their previous two albums after they decided to be a “metal” band. I’m sure for the band, they put their hearts into writing “In the eyes of fire” but that doesn’t make me care at all. Especially on tracks such as “Big Bear and the hour of chaos” which has a nice little piano ditty breakdown in the middle of the song, which is not only laughable, but immediately made me skip to the next track, only to discover the record was over. Unearth will never be At the gates, Slayer, (old) In Flames…. hell name any decent metal band. Do yourself a favor and spend some quality time researching the back catalogue of the last 30 years of metal, and I guarantee you will find something more satisfying than hearing another yawn like this.
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