In the Metalcore world, Unearth has always been one of the staple bands to the style, being one of the most prominant of the earliest acts, and one of those who still sticks with that early Metalcore approach to their music. However, the band does manage to create some solid tracks at times that really remind the listener's why the group was important, and is still relevant today. Darkness in the Light marks the group's fifth full-length recording since their highly frowned upon debut back in 2001, and given the trend on the last few albums, this should be another effort that has plenty of pulse pounding high impact tracks coupled with a good amount of standard Metalcore filler.
And that's essentially what this effort boils down to. Darkness in the Light is just another Unearth album that shows fans that they have the talent to create something really good, but just can't help but stick to the limitations of the general ideas to the style. The production values of this album does help things out, as the sound is rather clear, giving the music a more modern sound that anyone would expect it to carry, but doesn't make it really feel stylish like many other acts would use. Instead, the album just sounds heavy, which is the right way to do things and keeps this release a little more unique, as Unearth has always been a group that showed a more aggressive side without needing to do so through a specific atmosphere or some kind of recording trick. The music levels are all well suited and the vocals sound great, leaving nothing to drown out something else entirely. The bass is also nicely present in the mix, which gives the music a great edge by adding some extra heaviness to the guitars and drumming. The only time things seem to get louder on this recording is during heavily melodic moments, or even guitar solos, which is a little odd as they clearly sound louder on purpose. "Shadows in the Light", for example, has a catchy melodic guitar chord that kicks off abruptly before the chorus, and it's clear the guitars are podded up higher for this and even the chorus, but purposely done as they do a quick fade to a lower volume the first time they kick in and go to normal guitars again. Even the clean singing becomes louder for the chorus, which just feels absolutely pointless given how well the production is in the first place.
Darkness in the Light starts off with the track "Watch it Burn", and it's similar to the single that was issued on-line thanks to the label, "Eyes of Black", in that it feels more like a general Metalcore track with nothing all that new or surprising to it other then some solid traditional Metalcore being present. Of course, "Eyes of Black" does incorporate some more melodic elements to it, and it's richness does make the track stand out more then "Watch it Burn", but neither really make much of an impact, and again the guitar volume levels seem louder during the more melodic guitar chords. The breakdowns on these tracks are also nothing all that spectacular. Luckily these more traditional tracks don't really span much of the album, and you'll fine a few more scattered about, such as the song "Coming of the Dark", though this track is a blistering, punishing Metalcore assault that only seems to have a melodic chorus, but even with that it's more restrained to fit the general staple concept of the music. This song does include a random passage of Southern-like chords that "Eyes of Black" also features, and just like int hat song it feels absolutely out of place, though the lead into it is a little more fluid, though what follows feels a little more chaotic, going from that bridge to a guitar solo, then breakdown, then breakdown with that same guitar bridge going on beneath it. It's still a solid track, but seems to just have too much going on for it's more traditional approach.
Of course, these are just the more traditional Metalcore staples with some melodic influence with decent breakdowns. There are other songs here that do break the stereotypical mold of the style, and really hammer away with great energy and some really catchy hooks through a stronger melodic presence. As mentioned earlier, "Shadows in the Light" is one of these songs, and it's easily one of the more enjoyable tracks of the recording despite the volume issues that it has, but "Ruination of the Lost" also stands out as one of the earlier more melodic tracks. The problem here is that, while the song is rather infectious, you can't help but sit there and feel as if this is just a Killswitch Engage rip-off right from the start. Despite it being one of the better songs, and a solid track at that, it just doesn't leave that much of an impact because of that fact. There's also the song "Equinox" which really seems to just go nowhere, though it starts out feeling like it's going to be an instrumental and eventually builds to add vocals to it's melodic mess, but ultimately just comes off as another filler track. "The Fallen" is another stronger melodic track, but it's also one that doesn't feel too original, and comes off more as a mix of earlier Colony-era In Flames with Shadows Fall, but it's executed well and the song brings enough aggression to the melody with a decent amount of fluidity to it to keep the more staple ideas present against a heavy melodic sound.
While Darkness in the Light sounds like a strong contender, the album isn't the most solid effort the band has released. There's a little less limiting the music by the band on this effort, though it's still there on some tracks, and many of the more melodic tracks are heavy and often pulse pounding, but many of them seem to take ques from other bands to the point where it loses the more staple Metalcore sound Unearth have utilized over the years. It's not a bad album, and in fact there's plenty of headbang worthy tracks on here, such as "Shadows in the Light, "The Fallen", and even the heavier melodic track "Overcome" that feels more like it takes from traditional Hardcore themes, as well as a few others, but there's just no denying that this effort does have it's own share of faults which go from filler tracks to blatently manmade volume issues, to some pretty evident idolworship. Fans of Unearth will find an emotional grab bag here, being pleased at times, and let down at others, but new fans to metal in general, or those closed off to other styles may very well find this album more enjoyable then others.
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