Review Summary: The second effort from Unearth, while containing some filler, also contains some incredible material. Yet another reason why they are at the top of metalcore's throne.
Alright, having reviewed
The March and
III: In the Eyes of Fire, I figured it was only time to review
The Oncoming Storm, Unearth's second album. Their first album
The Stings of Conscience, while being a good album, was marred by poor production. Adam D.'s job behind the production chair rectifies that and in the process, makes this one of the best metalcore albums of 2004, showing what Unearth really had under its belt in terms of musicianship. Shouter Trevor Phipps sounds fresh in this album, at times in
The March, he sounded slightly tired and out of the picture. Fret-board flashers Buzz McGrath and Ken Susi deliver their usual terrific batch of blasting riffs and excellent leads, while drummer Mike Justian adds in electric fills and attention-worthy double bass throughout. Bassist John Maggard is somewhat lost in the mix, as usual, however, at times it is possible to hear his bass through all of the guitar molesting. Breakdowns, one again, are prominent and will start thrashing mosh pits in no time.
Beginning the album with a bang, Trevor lets out a tortured scream and the rest of the band kick in with several catastrophic riffs and lightning-fast fills from Mike. "The Great Dividers" shows everything that Unearth is good at, and is a great song to begin on, as it shows the general tone of
The Oncoming Storm. This song is quite a breakdown-fest, and will get you moving in ways that may shock your parents. Overall, a great start for the album. "Failure" is up next and begins with rapid, harmonic leads at then throws you into a pit of melodic leads and gruff shouts from Trevor. The breakdowns are great once again and really thrash you around. The third track, "This Lying World", kicks off with an eerie riff and crescendos into a thundering breakdown. The chorus contains some melodic leads that may remind one of Iron Maiden. Before the second breakdown, there is some insane drum work by Mike using the snare drum, cymbals, and double bass primarily. At the end of the song, there is a lead-up and Trevor screams "Whoaaa! Breakdown!", the resulting chaos is one of the better breakdowns on the CD, generating enough energy to give an atomic bomb a run for its money. Another highlight track, "Black Hearts Now Reign", commences after that, containing a fantastic opening riff and one of Trevor's best vocal performances on the album. Machine-gunning fills from Mike and excellent harmonized leads run rampant all over this track. The song ends with a quiet and melodic clean guitar section and slowly winds down. Coming in fourth, and being yet another extremely strong track, is "Zombie Autopilot". This song is greatly melodic and about 1/3 of the way through, contains a fantastic solo duel between Ken and Buzz that really leaves your jaw dropping. Just an incredible song overall.
Tracks 6 and 7, "Lie to Purify" and "Bloodlust of the Human Condition", contain more well-worked harmonized leads and bone-jarring breakdowns, however, they seem to not hold some of the punch that the first 5 tracks conveyed. The following endeavor, "Endless", may be recognized from the EP of the same name released 2 years earlier. This version of "Endless" is not quite as good as it was on the EP, however, it is still a standout track for containing THAT breakdown with Trevor screaming, "Fight!" over it like a man possessed. Seriously, it is just incredible and may cause several holes in the windows of nearby buildings. It is simply one of the best I've heard. The rest of the song is made up of more great riffs and drum-work from Mike, ending with the breakdown once again (and fittingly so). I must also note, that Ken also uses clean vocals in this song, and they sound quite good. He also uses them sparingly in "Black Hearts Now Reign" and "Lie to Purify". At times, it seems that this song could've used a solo. Still great, though. After "Endless", "Aries" kicks things down a notch with some excellent piano playing. Trevor's muted screaming comes in later in the track, adding more emotion. "Aries" offers a breathe after the ferocity that the first 8 tracks assaulted on the senses. Once again, the album pierces the ears with the tenth track, "Predetermined Sky". At about two minutes and twenty seconds in, a catchy, melodic interlude begins and then throws the listener another curve-ball, with another crushing breakdown. Last, but not least, the final track of the album, "False Idols", thrashes the listener around for a good 3 minutes, before simply unloading with a brutal ending that will send a final blunt message of "You're ears have just been terminated". In essence, this is where the tornado comes through and destroys what the hail and lightning haven't.
Trevor's vocal performance in this album is your typical Trevor Phipps shout-fest, no real variation is seen on his part, which is a bit of a turnoff. Ken also implements some decent clean vocals in the aforementioned "Endless" and "Black Hearts Now Reign", decent enough that I wouldn't have minded seeing them show up a bit more. Once again, Trevor's lyrics are above average and mostly focus on the way that we are destroying the world and the onslaught (The Oncoming Storm) that we face if our path of environmental detriment continues.
Ken and Buzz once again nearly steal the show in this album. Their fantastic, rapid-fire riffs dominate this album from beginning to end. The solo in "Zombie Autopilot" is, like many other of their solos ("So It Goes", "We Are No Anonymous"), fantastic, and is a highlight of the album as a whole. Harmonized leads are another of their strong points and appear in heaping helpings throughout the album, adding extra melody and atmosphere to the songs. Really, yet another worthwhile performance by Unearth's two guitar wizards.
The rhythm section of Mike Justian and John Maggard, as usual, provide a reliable showing. Drummer Justian shows his frantic fills and excellent double bass work all throughout the album. Scathing cymbals and snare drum work support the guitarists through their every move. Bassist John, once again, is relatively inaudible, unfortunately. However, he once again shines with his piano performance in "Aries", showing that playing the bass is not his only talent on the music field.
The Oncoming Storm is yet another example why Unearth is one of the better bands practicing their genre. Combining thunderous breakdowns, frantic shouting and chain-sawing riffs with melodic leads and well-done clean sections, Unearth really showed with this album that they were at the top of the metalcore game. As usual, the faults of the lack of variety of vocals outside the odd clean section or spoken word and the lack of bass prevent this album from receiving a higher rating. Still, this is worthwhile album to pick up for any metal fan, mainly because of the terrific guitar work and drumming.
The Oncoming Storm gets a 4 out of 5.
