Album Review: Unearth - Watchers Of Rule

Although certain pundits are death–riding Unearth’s career given the recent demise of a handful of “New Wave of American Heavy Metal” peers, the Mass–hole metalcore mob’s refusal to concede or compromise is admirable.

Descriptors like “blue collar” and “workmanlike” are often bandied about, but Unearth’s hard–nosed, non–pretentious execution has long endeared them. Largely eschewing clean vocals and instead zeroing in on crafting taut, aggressive, thrashy fare bristling with seismic–shifting breakdowns and intricate harmonics works in their favour. Vocalist Trevor Phipps appears particularly incensed too. Few curveballs, but they remain sturdily reliable performers.