Album Review: Unearth-Darkness In The Light

Unearth, in my opinion, is one of the finest metalcore acts on the planet. They were one of the innovators of the genre and have made consistently great music throughout their long career. Another awesome thing about Unearth, is some of their members are from Lynn, Massachusetts (which is the city right next to where I am from.) With Darkness In The Light, Unearth proves yet again why they are one of the elite bands not only in metalcore, but in metal in general.

Darkness In The Light is particularly interesting because it blends the best parts of the last three Unearth albums together. The melodic undertones and clean vocals of The Oncoming Storm, the aggression of III: In The Eyes Of Fire, the amazing solos of The March, and of course, Unearth's classic breakdowns that have the great ability of hitting hard in every song without being redundant or feeling forced. As soon as I heard lead single "Eyes Of Black" back in May, I knew Darkness In The Light would be the best Unearth record to date. "Eyes Of Black" has that Unearth edge with a sick solo and probably the best breakdown of their career. Unearth deserves a breakdown medal for "Eyes Of Black" (and the rest of the record for that matter) . The breakdown-whoring deathcore acts should owe Unearth a large sum of money for raping the art form that they have mastered. On top of the excellent guitar playing, the rest of Unearth steps up big time as well. Trevor Phipps gives his top vocal performance to date. Phipps takes a lot of shit for his vocals (I have always enjoyed them, but many people disagree with me), but I think that should end with Darkness In The Light, he sounds great here. Justin Foley of Killswitch Engage does a solid job with the drumming on this record. It was cool to see him play on a non-Killswitch Engage record and I look forward to see him play older Unearth tracks on Mayhem Fest this year.

Darkness In The Light is the finest work of Unearth career. It has all the riffs, solos, and breakdown that Unearth is known for, thrown in with improved vocals and the return of clean vocals. This record is an absolute monster overall. Unearth shows here that they continue to improve and have established themselves as elite metal veterans at this point in time. Buy this record, go see them this summer on Mayhem Fest and support one of the finest metal bands in the game.

4.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Arise The War Cry
2.Eyes Of Black
3.Coming Of The Dark