Originally written by Michael Roberts.
Now that the party-crashing hipsters have well and truly deserted it for whatever this month’s flavor is, for those of us who still love our metalcore it’s time to clean up house. And if I were to invite a trusted, loyal friend over the next day for tea and biscuits, it would be Unearth. I’ve enjoyed all of their previous albums a great deal, especially The Oncoming Storm which I consider to be a metalcore classic. In The Eyes Of Fire meanwhile was memorable for its stripped-back approach and a palpable rage that permeated its songs.
The March is another strong and consistent offering from Unearth but as others have opined, not quite as memorable as the band’s previous albums. It still easily trumps about ninety percent of metalcore currently out there, no doubt about that, but by Unearth’s high standards it feels a little too safe and rudimentary for the most part. Don’t get me wrong, there are some excellent individual tracks; “My Will Be Done,” “Crow Killer” and “We Are Not Anonymous” in particular are right up there with Unearth’s best songs. Other numbers are memorable in part, such as the effective use of acoustic guitar in “Grave of Opportunity,” the fun eighties vibe of “The Chosen” and the gradual, spine-tingling ascension on “Letting Go”. As enjoyable as these moments are, there’s absolutely nothing here that steps outside this band’s proven but all-too-predictable NWOBHM-meets-hardcore-via-thrash formula.
The March is in no way a bad album, and is one of the top metalcore releases this year by default. Unearth still sound totally committed, but not quite as inspired this time around. The band has stuck to what it does best, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. However, if you aren’t going to do anything new musically, it comes down to things like passion, purpose and intensity when differentiating one album from another and in that regard, The March falls slightly short when stacked up against Unearth’s stellar back catalog.
