2004 was the breakout year for hardcore-oriented metal. Poison The Well, Killswitch Engage, and Shadows Fall, and the almighty Hatebreed blazed the trail, but 2004 was the summer that saw As I Lay Dying, Atreyu, Every Time I Die, Bleeding Through, Darkest Hour, Throwdown, God Forbid, and Unearth really break into the car stereos, iPods, and bedroom stereos of the average American metal kid. It was interesting to see bands I had grown up with and my own band had played selling out 1000 seat venues in towns they didn't live in. It may sound corny, but "it was a time so full of promise..."
Now its 2011, and a lot of those aforementioned bands have fallen back down the metal food chain, replaced by bands either younger and heavier or older and more "hipster" oriented. Over the last seven years, I hadn't kept up with a lot of bands I knew in that "class of '04", mostly because I stopped touring, tastes change, and life happens, but Sunday I reunited with Unearth at the Mountain View stop of the Rockstar Mayhem tour (also featuring Megadeth, Testament, Suicide Silence, Kingdom of Sorrow, and Red Fang) for an afternoon of beer bonging, shots, horrible statements, trips down memory lane, and brutal riffs. Needless to say, I still have a headache and looking at beer makes me queasy.
While I managed to leave a lot of my money and some of my dignity at the Shoreline on Sunday, I didn't leave the copy of Darkness In The Light, Unearth's latest record, there (I'm honestly shocked it didn't get left in the golf cart that was hijacked nor in the VIP box seats we watched Megadeth and Machinehead from...Thanks Doug!). I have to be honest, I totally missed The March as I record, so the last thing I heard from the band was In The Eyes of Fire, which was definitely a lot more pissed than their breakout record, The Oncoming Storm. In fact, I had been so out of touch with the band and their world, that I wasn't really even sure of what to expect for them reaction-wise at Mayhem Fest on Sunday. About 40 seconds into their set Sunday, I realized that while I may have fallen out of touch with Unearth for a record, metal at large definitely had not based on the few thousand people going completely apeshit for them the moment they kicked off their thirty minute set. It wasn't really that much of a surprise; I've seen this band get a room of thirty people to erupt in violence. Clearly it was my bad for thinking their crowd response would be anything less in 2011.
Darkness In The Light is by far Unearth's heaviest work. The band has that rare ability to write a riff that makes floors open up in all out bloodshed while being catchy enough for heavy metal radio or Headbanger's Ball. The ability to pummel people with something that can get stuck in their heads is a trait many bands chase after for years but never quite hone to perfection. Unearth have more or less written the handbook in it via this album. Guitarists Ken Susi and Buz McGrath have really set themselves apart from a lot of their peers not only via their ability to keep things heavy AND catchy, but as excellent shredders. The solos and leads on "Watch It Burn" and "Shadows in the Light" are both lightning fast and well thought out, and avoid sounding like a two nerdy dudes testing out gear at Guitar Center. Their ability to work melody into their songs, be it via subtle notes in guitar parts or Ken Susi's clean vocals (which at times are reminiscent of ex-Underoath/The Almost singer Aaron Gillespie) are just another way that puts Unearth in a different class of band than their peers and argueably one of the few remaining relevant bands from that initial wave of bands that broke in 2004. I knew that Darkness in the Light would be a good listen, but had no idea it would be this powerful and standard setting, especially coming from a band who has been at it for as long as Unearth
The band is on the Rockstar Mayhem Tour for the rest of the summer before heading off to Europe with Bane and Evergreen Terrace. Darkness in the Light came out last week on Metal Blade, and is well worth the money. If you want your hair blown back and to potentially get a full beer tossed your way, check out Unearth live this summmer. They are proof that bands don't always fade into obscurity as time goes on.
