Unearthed

R.E.X. Music was one of the premier purveyors of Christian alternatives to both secular and anti-Christian bands in the American metal scene, also hosting a token act here and there from Sweden, Australia and the British Isles. The most curious thing about said label was that just about every existing sub-genre under the sun was represented by a band or two in their ranks, save for black metal as the 2nd wave had not quite broken out yet at the time. Their lone brutal adherent Crimson Thorn, arguably the most aggressive thing to ever rear its ugly head via the Minnesota scene at the time, had originally put out their debut effort Unearthed under the Atomic Records moniker, and the results were a bit less than satisfactory in the production department. Given R.E.X.'s experience in handling more intense outfits in the thrash metal style like Sacrament and Living Sacrifice (both flirting with death metal territory themselves), the needed tweaks in the mix were made, a far more appropriate album art obtained, and the weight of this band's potential was unleashed like the thunderous trumpet of Gabriel shaking the earth with a primal blast that would rival the vilest of acts to come out of the New York and Florida scenes a few years earlier.

In a number of ways this band's backstory parallels that of Cannibal Corpse, as some of its members were originally playing thrash metal and carried said sound over to their demo Plagued prior to taking the all out plunge into carcass mutilating madness. The resulting sound that emerges on this LP is, in turn, largely a composite of the first three albums with Chris Barnes at the helm, though the intensity factor of the vocals and the much rawer and decrepit production sound tilts it fairly close to early Suffocation. Things don't become outright technical in the same sense as the shred-weaving insanity of Effigy Of The Forgotten, as the guitar soloing that occurs sporadically is definitely cut from the Jack Owen and Bob Rusay variant of Slayer emulation, there is a clear thrash root to much of this that leans more towards the latent death/thrash tendencies of Eaten Back To Life and a few songs like "Ignorant Self" and "Malignant Masters" have mid-paced breakdowns that almost sound like a precursor to the Six Feet Under sound. All the same, the resulting flavor that emerges from just how nasty the execution of this traditional sound turns out to be could be qualified as a sort of missing link between CC and Suffocation.

It gets a bit difficult to really differentiate the songs at times, as Crimson Thorn basically takes the concept of unfettered rage to its logical conclusion with each individual song. They don't necessarily find themselves repeating the exact same formula, as they take time to throw in a rather creepy atmospheric clean guitar intro on "Comatose" that ends up in more of a mid-paced stomp that is closer to classic Obituary in spite of the deeper Mullen meets Barnes growls, among a few other little niche ideas tosses about here and there that keep things from becoming totally one-dimensional. Nevertheless, one can't help but hear the heavily distorted guitar noise that kicks off either "Unearthed" or "Ignorant Self" and not hear heavy similarities to "Shredded Humans", nor does the heavily distorted bass and chunky rhythmic character of "Your Carcass" ring too distant from select tunes off Tomb Of The Mutilated apart from the short preacher's sermon at the beginning and the lyrics. Basically the highly frenetic character of the riffing and drumming, combined with a highly stylized approach to playing slower passages results in a formulaic character that makes for a consistent listening experience, in the best way possible.

Limited distribution and ideological tension were likely the only obstacles that kept this album from being as big of a deal as concurrent offerings out of more conventionally violent themed bands in the early to mid 90s death metal scene. Be this as it may, from an qualitative angle, this album blows a fair amount of its contemporary competition out of the water, including the first two Cannibal Corpse albums with Corpsegrinder at the helm and basically everything that Barnes did after leaving CC, the former being heavily unfocused and disjointed attempts at stylistic evolution while Six Feet Under basically jettisoned most of the strengths of the style found on this great album in the name of commercial viability. The R.E.X. version is the best of the three of this album from both a production standpoint and superior album art if being procured in physical form, though the Morphine Records release does also contain the Plagued demo those who may want to experience some fairly competent Christian thrash metal. Whatever philosophical or theological persuasion one comes from, the brutality and auditory violence that protrudes from Unearthed is undeniable.

Christian metal is one of the most difficult metal genres to get a decent following from. You either hate the idealogy and the music, hate the music or idealogy, or in some very rare cases actually like both.

Crimson Thorn have managed to do so far what none of the other Christian bands I've reviewed have done. Crimson Thorn actually sound like real death metal. These guys don't play melodic deathmetal like Soul Embraced, they also know what type of music they want to play instead switching their style within each song. Extol I'm looking in your direction. Crimson Thorn also manage to not sound like a band singing hymnals with the instruments focused around the vocals like the band Mortification.

What we have here is some brutal sounding insane death metal. It's obvious that this band took some influences from such bands as Obituary and Suffocation as many of their riffs are just as technical and brutal as those former bands mentioned. At times the drumming can push its way foward in the background which can be annoying for a second, but the drum riffs are actually pretty good. The drummer uses a nice array of double bass, and blast beats that you would find on most death metal records.

The vocals are gutteral and harsh and rest assured you won't here and mushy ballads on here. In fact rest assured that half the time you can barely understand what the guy is saying. Also rest assured that if you decide to read the lyrics you'll be hard pressed to find any simplistic lyrics that only read "Jesus wuvs me!" and the like.

Even if you're a diehard anti-Christian you should check this album out. It probaly won't change your beliefs but it's nice and fun to listen to.

With this release the boys from the up North show how much they love Suffocation and other prolific death/grind bands of the day. While not a carbon copy mind you, they do draw quite a similar crunch and production as "Effigy of the Forgotten."
But on to the review, wow these guys are heavy. Not perfect by any means, but sure will cause the neck muscles to hurt!! Luke's vocals are sick but are still done well enough for the listener to make sense of what is being said. I have to keep reminding myself that this album was recorded quite a while ago so there some points here and there where the music can seem redundant, but nevertheless this band really stays heavy and solid throughout. The drumming, while not as technical as some still manages to break the neck of the listener. As mentioned earlier they have taken a lot from the "Effigy . ." album but really don't "copy" it. The guitars are very strong, though I can't help but think the mix of them could've been a bit louder; nevertheless they are played well and keep one moving. While not as "groovy" as some grind have become, Crimson Thorn show on this their first full length that they can play with any of the big boys when it comes to heaviness and brutality!
So while the originality might lag a bit, the finished product is a blasting dose of heaviness that will keep any grind mind swinging the hair. buy this yesterday!!!