Music Non Stop: Unearth...where did this come from?

I have been posting some of Unearth's new music from their upcoming album, Darkness in the Light, and I have been impressed with the variety of music they have had. This latest track, Watch It Burn, is similar to their older stuff with the breakdowns, but once again it's different because of the "bridge" towards the end that gives you some clean vocals and some different tempo. Overall it's pretty good, the guitar work in the intro is killer. I have no idea where all of this great music came from, it's not Adam D. because he has produced a lot of their stuff before. This is looking to be a pretty solid album.

Who Decides: Mid-Albums of the Year 2011

This will probably be the hardest year for me putting together a Top 10 list.  If this list isn't already packed, I have Trivium, In Flames, Sepultura, Dead by April, Blood Stain Child, Unearth, Anthrax and who knows what else.  It's an awesome year for metal music, so let's get started;

1(tie).  Mercenary - Metamorphosis: I talked about this album HERE already.  And there isn't much I can add.  It's near perfection. Each song is heavy & catchy with killer vocals.  I'm not sure what else you could ask for in a metal album.

1(tie).  Times of Grace - Times of Grace: Reviewed HERE.  This isn't a more "metal" album than Mercenary, but it is a more complete album.  You have some acoustic tracks, some doom-like tracks, and some classic metal tracks.  It's a great album.  The worst part for both of these albums is that they might not end up number 1 at the end of the year.

3.  Cavalera Conspiracy - Blunt Force Trauma:  I was not a fan of Infliked or the last two Soulfly albums, but this one hits the spot for me.  It is very light on the whole "tribal metal", but Marc Rizzo definitely makes up for it with his guitar work.  For some reason I feel like I am listening to some NWOBHM with harsh vocals thrown on top of it.  Right now, this is my surprise album of the year.

From here on out, these albums can change from day to day.  It's not like they aren't good, they are so good it's difficult to put them in order.

4.  Before the Fall - Antibody: brutal modern industrial style metal.  I have always had a soft spot for bands like Fear Factory, Strapping Young Lad, and Divine Hersey, and Before the Fall are in that same vein.  Don't hold your breath waiting for that clean chorus...cause it ain't coming.

5.  Lazarus A.D. - Black Rivers Flow: a more mature Lazarus A.D. shows up this time around.  Still thrash-oriented, but they aren't afraid to slow it down and push the envelope.  Some real solid metal here for classic metal fans.

6.  Sylosis - Edge of the Earth: this one reminds me a little of Machine Head's The Blackening.  It is a long album and takes some time to digest.  Musically it sounds a lot like Metallica's classic albums of MoP, RtL, and AJFA.  Vocally, mainly harsh screams.  It works, but I think the lack of variety hurts this just a bit.

7.  Deadlock - Bizzaro World:  I talked about it HERE.  It's solid, nothing new, but nothing bad if you liked their last 3 albums.  I said they were going into that KsE path of writing the same music over and over again.  I'm not sure another album like this will work.

8.  Soul Cycle - Soul Cycle: Soul Cycle play instrumental classic thrash metal.  It's good.  I talked about the high amount of solid instrumental albums HERE earlier.  If you like thrash and don't need vocals to enjoy the music...this is a must.

9.  Amaranthe - Amaranthe: I talked about them last year and finally the album is here.  This is pop metal at its best.  Female, clean male, and harsh male vocals really works well here.  If you don't mind keyboards playing a big part of the music, then try this.

10. Tyrant of Death - Dark Space: another instrumental album.  Think SYL meets Fear Factory without the vocals.  It's great heavy metal...the guitars and drumming are insane.

This can change any day because bands like DevilDriver, The Haunted, Protest the Hero, The Human Abstract, Inside It Grows, Titans Eve, Degradead, Arch Enemy, Izegrim, Artas, Circles, and Mygrain have all released solid albums.  Each one of the bands mentioned could easily end up in the top 10.

But just do some quick math, there are 10 above, plus the 12 that barely missed out, and the 7 known albums that haven't been released.  That's 29 albums I am looking at trying to narrow to 10.  good luck to me.

Music Non Stop: Another New Unearth song - Ruination Of The Lost

Well this starting to look like my surprise album of the year. I posted a new song from Unearth a couple of weeks ago and was impressed by how much different and better they sound now. Well now there is a second new song, Ruination of the Lost, and it's just as good. I have never been a fan of an Unearth album from start to finish, but this is now two songs in a row.

Music Non Stop: new Unearth

Unearth is a mixed bag for me. The Oncoming Storm was pretty solid...for metalcore. It wasn't ground-breaking like Killswitch Engage, it was good. III: In the Eyes of Fire literally had one good song, This Glorious Nightmare. And The March...well...yeah.

Unearth is almost like the Iron Maiden of metalcore. Simply put, when you have heard one Unearth song, you have pretty much heard them all. With all that said, their new song Eyes of Black from their upcoming album, Darkness in the Light, is actually pretty good. Solid drumming, a nice little guitar solo, and of course the trademark breakdown make this song enjoyable. I might check this out.

More...More: new singles released

Ok with the school year coming to a start and the actual calendar year wrapping up (only 4 months left), the fall releases are starting to give some samples or even singles for what's to come. So here is a quick look at what's on it's way.

Of course, if you read any sort of metal news you know Metallica is releasing their new album in September. Here is the first single off of it, The Day That Never Comes. I have heard people call this a modern day One or Sanitarium...uh no. It's a solid song especially the last 2 minutes or so, feels like Iron Maiden. Oh yeah and there is a part of an older song from Load or Reload in there...gotta find it though.


Next up is a surprise for me, Deadlock. Why? They just released an album last year and it was fantastic! So what will this one sound like? Who knows, but one of the songs from it was "leaked" and it sounds like it came off of Wolves. BTW, Deadlock play a style like At the Gates, with a male and female vocalists...don't worry the girl doesn't go all Arch Enemy on us. First song: Kill, Kill, Kill (nice huh?)


Also have some All That Remains that they have put out. Now ATR have never had tow albums sound alike...as I said before. So what do I expect? Nothing. But here is my favorite song I have heard so far. If you want more just type All That Remains Overcome into YouTube and you will see the others. I give you Before the Damned.



Now I have talked about Trivium's new songs and gave a sample here. I actually think this will be better than The Crusade, but I don't know about Ascendancy yet.

Oh and then out of nowhere Unearth releases this song...My Will Be Done. Unearth is the Iron Maiden of metalcore...ya heard one song you have heard them all. Well not this one. A little guitar lead in the intro and a hint of a solo has my interest peaked a bit for this release.


All in all this is going to be a solid 4 months of releases. I expect my top 10 to change dramatically, but that's life. Can't wait.