Synopsis:
Though a solid record, the second offering from webzine turned record label Lambgoat, Unholy’s debut effort doesn’t quite match the stunning Lambgoat debut from Lye By Mistake.
Review:
There’s tons of adjectives I could use to describe Syracuse’s take on metallic hardcore/metalcore/thrash: stern, chunky, stout, intense and pummeling for example. However, original isn’t one of those words.
If you have heard recent releases by the likes of Bloodjinn, All Out War, and Year of Desolation, you have some idea of Unholy’s metallic, thrash-based take on hardcore. It’s done well enough, and with members of Path of Resistance, Another Victim and Santa Sangre, you’d expect so. Venomous vocals lay over a thick, chunky back bone while the riffs rumble and rip with ample heft and just a touch of scathing melody (i.e. “New Faith”, “Blood of the Medusa”). At times it comes across like the heavier, nastier old brother of the more contemporary American Metal acts or like a less clichéd less contrived and more metallic take on hardcore, much like Earth Crisis were in their prime (Karl Buechner even appears on guest vocals).
However, despite the burly and chunky surface, including the impressive Jason Randall production (Ed Gein, Architect, From a Second Story Window), the songs are a tad empty. Sure, they are intense, but it all seems a bit manufactured in place of a natural, developed, organic intensity. The songs just sort or rebound off you with quick jabs, rather than floor you or knock the wind out of you. The pace slows for “Past This Mortal Coil”, which actually becomes the album's sole memorable song amid the whirlwind of tracks like “Variola”, “Where Angels Fear”, “Rise of Sammath” and “Entrails of Rotting Sky”.
That being said, despite my apathy, Blood of the Medusa is a damn solid record, though nothing more. However, it's intensely honest and free from any sort of trends of hardcore tough guy-isms. The toughness is in the music itself.