Label - Century Media
Release Date- 5th May 2023
Words - Tony Bliss
Whilst the so-called ‘New Wave Of American Heavy Metal’ established some of our world's biggest success stories of (relatively) recent times - we’re looking at you Killswitch Engage and Lamb Of God - most fell by the wayside all too soon. Not so Unearth. Although never hitting the commercial peaks enjoyed by their early noughties brethren, the likes of III: In The Eyes Of Fire and particularly 2004’s The Oncoming Storm are genuine classics, and twenty-five years into a steadfast career these road dogs are not only still playing to every club and festival bill that will have them, but also delivering killer records. With that said, The Wretched; The Ruinous is a predictably rippin’ affair. Less predictable is the fact these eleven tunes are easily the heaviest and most commanding Unearth have delivered for some time.
Similar in spirit to 2014’s scintillating Watchers Of Rule, this is the sound of every fader being wedged firmly into the red, and from the opening title track onwards there is an air of immortality to every dual harmony lead and depth-charge breakdown, almost as if the band have just discovered the magic elixir of metalcore’s combined elements and are excitedly introducing it to the world. Just check out the rest-mist brutality of a song like ‘Eradicator’ or the gleaming, melo-death shred-fest of ‘Invictus’ for evidence of five dudes still absolutely living for this shit.
The band still look keen to usher in new dynamics here and there although, with ‘Mother Of Betrayal’ almost nodding towards black metal textures with its various melodic ideas and trem-picked pace, ‘Broken Arrow’ bringing a Dime-worthy swing and rockin’ flair to what is essentially a sub-three minute pit-spinner, and closer ‘Theatres Of War’, whose twin-guitars, pneumatic riffing and scream along chorus take us beyond any genre conventions and is - quite simply - a great heavy metal song. Some might have thought a record of this quality was beyond Unearth at this stage of their career. More fool them, as The Wretched; The Ruinous legitimately comes within a hair's breadth of topping anything we have heard from the band yet. Seek out the breakdown on ‘Dawn Of The Militant’ and smash things.
8/10
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