Age of Chaos

I can chalk UNEARTHLY up as one of those "bought on a whim" bands when I found their "Infernum..." album a few years back. I had a bit of apprehension as I didn't know what to expect, but lo and behold, these Brazilian weirdos threw me for a loop with their frosty blackened wares. Since then, it's been hard to find their material on my end of the ocean, but I still prattled on, hoping against hope that any other albums I'd find of theirs would be just as awesome as the one I happened to stumbled upon.

And then came this...

This isn't what I signed up for, THAT'S for sure. While I would never hold it against the band for going against the norm, there's a time and place for such a thing,and sometimes there's more...after all, you should be able to utilize at least a LITTLE of your roots when dealing with a brand new persona. That's not really the case here on "Age of Chaos". That which was at one time UNEARTHLY has been replaced with a paradox of mundaneness, with a few moments were attention is piqued, but for what its worth this seems like a rather bland-sounding modern BEHEMOTH album minus much of the laugh-inducing, noisy speed. Hell, the new logo and general artwork screams "Nergal and Co". There's a method to this coherance, so I can't say this would be a total throw-away, as the guitars/bass riffwork, monstrous drumming, and those wicked-evil snarls have more than that simple modicum of ability to convey. Yes, it's heavy, and yes, there are some nifty ideas present in each of the successive songs, but as it stands the identity is sadly missing, replaced instead with a sort of insistance on change that doesn't seem at all natural. Maybe it was more of a natural occurance than I'd realize, were I to somehow get ahold of the albums leading up to this point, but since I can only judge this on its own merit this doesn't have enough juice to keep the attention afloat. Even the better parts of songs like "Rise the Scents of Death", "Incarnation of Salvation" and "Anthems, Marchs and Warsongs" do what they can, but can't exactly justify all the filler.

In the end I didn't expect this at all, though after the meteoric rise of BEHEMOTH I can't say something like this popping up wouldn't surprise me. If it were up to me I'd advice UNEARTHLY to get back to business, namely getting their old, and far better, identity back. Pass.

I have been listening to Unearthly ever since they released Infernum - A Prelude to a New Reign.Their lyrical theme is still what they have been writting about- Anti-Religion and Satanism. As far as songwritting, they have gone from black metal to a blackened death metal. It is as if they are letting go of their black metal sound.

D. Arawn's guitar sounds buried, still his riffs are exciting and pretty tight. In fact, this album has more solos than before. Eregion's vocals are something that I did not expect at all. They are too weak, lousy, and lack emphasis. It seems they had to add a lot of effect to make it sound better. M. Duarte's drums overpowers the entirely recording. But, he is definitely diverse and brutal. It does not sound as flat as it used to- which is a plus. Whether their line-up instability is the reason why they could not focus on what they were doing or Unearthly is really striving to death metal, I do not know.

Despite all of this, "Age of Chaos" is a good album. It has its moments of brutality, acoustic Eastern-like guitars, nice solos and even a Sarcófago cover "Orgy of Flies." Maybe the production was not meant for Unearthly. If they had hired someone else, maybe it could have been better. All in all, it does not have what their previous works had: depth and atmosphere. Hopefully they will come up with something better.

Unearthly is a frenetic black metal band out of Brazil with an edge of a death metal influence: I could hear some Deicide, Krisiun, Behemoth, Morbid Angel, and perhaps some aggressive Swedish black/death like Lord Belial. Age of Chaos is their third album, following up Black Metal Commando from 2003. The record has a very boxy feel to it, as if it was recorded in a cardboard studio. I'm not saying this to complain, although I wish the bass had a louder presence in the mix. Most of the tracks are blasterfests with riffy breaks in them, below the sadistic vocals of Eregion.

I like the band's acoustic parts and their samples, such as the beginning of "Incarnation of Salvation" which has a tribal, native vibe to it that transferred well into the following riffs. Most of the tracks on Age of Chaos did not catch my ear, despite their thriving evil energy. It wasn't until the latter half of the album that I started to perk up and pay attention to the vile blitkrieg of "Anthems, Marchs and Warsongs" or "Revelations of Holy Lies", or the slower, out of character "Orgy of Flies". But if you enjoy faster black/death metal with a ton of blasting, occult lyrics and misanthropic riffs, there might to something to discover in Unearthly.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com