UNDERRATED: Unearth

Many metal bands will either rise to popularity by creating great and memorable music or helping develop a genre that they would become known for. Like Black Sabbath would do for heavy metal and doom metal, Napalm Death for grindcore and Possessed for death metal. But some bands fall under the radar and don’t get some of the same hype and respect that some more successful bands receive. In this series, we will tackle bands that don’t get the same respect and admiration as some of the bigger bands in their genres or at the time of the band’s peak in popularity. Not only to promote them and get their name out there, but also introduce people to the band and get them into their music. Hopefully gaining new fans in the process and bringing to the surface how good some of these bands are. This is Underrated.  

In this first edition, we'll be looking at a metalcore act that has been consistent and released banger after banger releases since their debut album. That band is metalcore juggernaut Unearth. A band that rose in popularity during the burgeoning rise of the 2000’s metalcore scene, but not reaching the same household name notoriety or popularity as acts like Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying and Trivium. I will deep dive into the band’s discography and look at the band’s impact and why they deserve more hype than they have received. 

After releasing a self-titled demo and a split with Undying, the band released their debut album in 2001 with The Stings of Conscience. Released on Eulogy Recordings, the album was produced by Killswitch Engage’s drummer at the time Adam Dutkiewicz. The rougher mix, and the hardcore screams/growls of Trevor Phipps cascaded over the pummeling guitar breakdowns and chugs. Tracks like “My Heart Bleeds No Longer", “Fuel The Fire” and the title track truly captured the birth of a strong, aggressive and hostile style of metal that was bubbling to the surface. Eventually becoming a genre that would see huge popularity in the 2000's. Unearth was cited as one of the forefathers of the northeastern metalcore scene. Along with other rising acts like Overcast and Shadows Fall. The metalcore sound took inspiration from the melodic death metal sound coming from Europe in the vein of At The Gates and Carcass, while adding hardcore-esque breakdowns and clean vocal pieces amidst screaming and growling. After appearances at popular festivals like New England Metal and Hardcore Festival and SXSW, the band would be signed to Metal Blade Records and hit the studio to work on their second album.

Released in 2004, The Oncoming Storm would become the band’s breakthrough album. Produced once again by Dutkiewicz, the album took the band’s debut sound and energy but fine-tuned the record with better production and more technical playing. With the album’s lead single “Black Hearts Now Reign” appearing on MTV2’s reboot of Headbanger’s Ball, the album was a hit for metalcore fans. Showing the band had taken the aggression and roots of the genre and enhanced it to become one of the best metalcore records of the 2000's. The album would debut at number 105 on Billboard, selling over 13,000 copies in its first week. Riding that success, the band would appear at that year’s Ozzfest and would have their first headlining tour with support from acts like The Black Dahlia Murder and Terror. They would also be one of the first bands to appear on the inaugural Sounds of The Underground tour with fellow metalcore acts Norma Jean and All That Remains.

The band released their third album III: In The Eyes of Fire in 2006. Produced by Terry Date, the band was excited and praised the opportunity to work with Date on their album. The more aggressive production mix by Date and the hostile energy of Phipps, plus the impressive technical playing of guitarist Ken Susi and Buz McGrath really delivered that heavy punch with every riff combination. The album included more elements of crossover thrash, like on the song “The Glorious Nightmare”. While also delivering the band's trademark metalcore sound. Songs like “Giles” captured the metalcore formula and guitar playing style that would launch countless metalcore acts after it. Hearing similarities in many acts like Wage War, Architects and Parkway Drive. Though it didn't hit the same success as The Oncoming Storm, III: In The Eyes of Fire just showed that no one could touch Unearth's sonic onslaught of metalcore brutality. 

Two years later, the band released The March in 2008. With this album, it would be the band’s first concept album with a underlying theme that “symbolizes both the evil and hopeful sides of humanity”. In an interview with Blabbermouth, vocalist Trevor Phipps went further into the concept and idea of the album:

“The Evil: With the constant balancing act of power within government, religion and our financial institutions, there lies the chance of those most hungry for power to alter and restrict our freedoms for their gain. The Hopeful: This represents the faith in mankind as the most powerful force on the planet. If we come together and do not fight over religion, class and borders then we hold the key to a peaceful world. There are two possible futures in store; either a March of power and greed or a March of a unified human race.”

Dutkiewicz would return to produce the album. It would receive positive reviews from sites like Blabbermouth and AllMusic, and as of 2009 has sold over 100,000 units internationally. Songs like “Grave of Opportunity” and “We Are Not Anonymous” would go on to appear in popular music-themed video game franchises Rock Band and Guitar Hero: World Tour. “The Chosen” would appear on the soundtrack for the Adult Swim animated film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters.

After consistent and constant touring, the band released their fifth album in 2011 Darkness in The Light. With Killswitch Engage drummer Justin Foley playing on the album, the album marked the band's shift into a more melodic death metal sound that became popular in Sweden with acts like In Flames and Soilwork. The album's lead single “Watch It Burn” featured clean vocals, which was new to fans of the band. Elements of that sound can also be heard on songs like “Ruination of The Lost” and “Arise The War Cry”. Not a complete tonal shift for the band, the album still delivered the punishing heaviness that fans came to love from the band. They just infused new elements and leaned more towards the melo-death roots of the genre they helped make popular. 

In 2014, the band would release their next album, Watchers of Rule, and only album on new label home eOne Music. Album opener “The Swarm” showed the band go for the jugular right from the get-go. More pissed-off and furious then the previous record, the band held back no punches in the anger and fury with this album. Susi and McGrath were again riff machines on this album. Capturing the chugging, palm-muted punishment throughout the album's thirty-five minute run time. A much darker sounding record, Watchers of Rule was a stark contrast from the melo-death heavy influence of Darkness in The Light. Many citing the record as the band returning to the violent, heavy and chugging popularity that the band delivered on The Oncoming Storm, but WAY more angrier and vengeful. Especially with a much louder, bombastic and aggressive mix on the album.

After leaving eOne Music, the band would sign to Century Media and entered the studio in March 2018. In the fall of that same year, the band released Extinction(s). With the hardcore-sounding opening track “Incinerate”, the album sounds so huge in the scale of it from the opening riff and double bass. The album comes back to the perfect mixture of metalcore and melo-death throughout the whole album. With one genre not dominating the other and falling in perfect balance. Phipps' vocals are also a lot more dynamic throughout the record. On “Dust”, he delivers his trademark shouting/growl vocals, but also delivers deep guttural vocal sections. Along with some vocal delivery sections that mimic Randy Blythe of Lamb of God. “Cultivation of Infection” delivered that sonic knockout punch right before the halfway mark of brutal double bass, deep gutturals and driving guitars. 

After a five year gap, the band released their most recent record, 2023’s The Wretched; The Ruinous. Receiving a ton of positive reviews upon release. With fans again praising the band's perfect marriage of hardcore, metalcore and melodic death metal. Showing that even after twenty years, they are still a force to be reckoned with in the metalcore genre. From the breakdown heavy opening title track to the ominous and foreboding “Mother Betrayal”, to the metalcore 2000's influenced closer “Theaters of War”, the album was just a modern-day classic in not only the band's catalogue, but metalcore as a whole. 

Unearth truly are underrated in the world of metalcore. Though they didn't reach the same popularity and impact that bands like Killswitch Engage and As I Lay Dying hit, the band is a true workhorse of a band. The band stuck to a sound that the band perfected and nailed to a T, straying away from the formulaic all growl/clean chorus stereotype the genre would become known for. The band didn't go that route. Instead, they continue to show the impact that straightforward, hostile, and pit-inducing riffage helped set the band apart from their contemporaries. A band to deep dive into and truly see the harsher, more aggressive side of metalcore.