Album Review: Vera Cruz – SkinAndTeethAndNails

Meaning “true cross” the French band Vera Cruz (yes, we’re not talking about the place, the film, the computer virus, the football club or the canyon here) are a group who wear their music influences as badges of honour. They have melded the classic punk of Black Flag and the timeless hardcore of Sick Of It All to the contemporary conglomerate metalcore of acts like Unearth or Evergreen Terrace so that what pours out of them falls somewhere between moshpit crush and raging chaos.

Their debut album, SkinAndTeethAndNails, besides providing the acronym SATAN whilst flaunting an anarchic graffiti-scrawled album cover message imploring you to “Fuck Cops”, goes off with one hell of a bang. The dynamic 1:32 build and crush of “Hopeless Knights” fires up the gang vocals to belt out the chorus for the enigmatic “The Last Of A Dying Breed”. The clean harmonies that mark out “The Family” pitch themselves as a sweetener for lead vocalist Flavian’s furious scrawling which continues to bite on through the speeding mania of “Black Walls” – a track that comes close to touching the crazy of label-mates The Chariot but with a hint of fellow countrymen The Prestige thrown in for good measure. The purposeful, yet ludicrously over-extended, circulating banjo at the track’s end leads neatly into the chord structure of the awesomely menacing “Open Your Eyes”.

From this point on, Vera Cruz rather lose a bit of steam. A large proportion of this latter material has a tendency to disappear from the foreground as the band begin to wander into familiar structures where neck-breaking speed, breakdowns and gang vocals rule. The exciting bone-crunching smack of those first few hits, the sinister psychological edge that was wielded so readily is filtered-out and the insistent metal guitar chugs begin to dominate (they even try to wedge an Iron Maiden gallop into the complex farce that is “The Last Parade”). Only the opportunity to “Walk Alone”, a track whose chorus is strongly reminiscent of Unearth’s “My Will Be Done”, and the dark atmospherics and dense bark of “Dunwich” allow them to come close to leaving another impression.

French metal bands seem to have a knack for imagination and, with SATAN, Vera Cruz have proved they are no different. What they appear to have a tendency to do is suppress it in an attempt to find a crossover metal edge and subsequent parity with their heroes. If they thought bigger, perhaps had a real crack at playing the wildcard that they are clearly holding, they could really blow some minds.



Also online @ Ave Noctum = http://www.avenoctum.com/2012/11/vera-cruz-skinandteethandnails-season-of-mist/

Album Review: Unearth - Darkness In The Light

Unearth have always showcased plenty of hardcore clout; so much so that the schisms of metal that lie beneath often come in a good second place. I’ve always thought this to be something of a shame when you consider the freewheeling talent that they have at their disposal in the form of inseparable brothers-in-arms Buz McGrath and Ken Susi (so inseparable are they, that I tend to think of them as one entity – “Boozi”). These string-shredding demons know how to attain, maintain and entertain and this is the secret behind the band being so much better live than their albums may initially suggest. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen “Boozi” perform their trademark dual backflips, axe tosses, vertical spit and catches and multiple strap spins. So when you hear their work so often buried in the mix, as it is here, then it’s something to get angry about.

Listening to the colossal hammer blows that stand-in drummer Justin Foley (Killswitch Engage) manages to squeeze out, and hearing the combination of that with Trevor Phipps new-improved, throat-ripping vocals, you can fully understand why go-to producer Adam Dutkiewicz put the brutal, rhythmic onslaught first on his list of priorities. Yes, I did say “new-improved.” It turns out Phipps’ straight-up honesty knows no bounds – describing his efforts for 2008′s The March, he admits “…that’s probably my worst vocal performance… so this time I was like, fuck man, I really need to knuckle down.” The result is a relentless onslaught of absolute aggression, yet he still seems resistant to expand into lows and highs; stuck in that one-dimensional skin-stripping howl of his. That’s where Ken Susi’s lungs come in to play and here he offers more of the startlingly enigmatic cleans that he last showcased for 2006′s The Oncoming Storm.

One thing is for certain, this is without doubt the most instantly accessible Unearth album to date. The majority of song-titles form the core of the chorus, so singing along just won’t be an option this time around. The hooks are out of this world and the breakdowns are just fucking enormous – “Watch It Burn”, “Coming Of The Dark” and “The Fallen” are destined to create legendary pits. We haven’t heard gut-drops like this since “Endless” and “This Lying World” lit up The Oncoming Storm like a pair of open grenades bursting forth from a box of nails. “Arise The War Cry” is almost at Max Cavalera standards of neanderthal ferocity, whilst “Watch It Burn” builds up such a monstrous head of steam that when the cyclical lyric “Burn your eyes on the setting sun” kicks in you can only think of Hatebreed as being anything like this vitriolic.

The guitars, despite being left behind at times, still pile out these shafts of euphoric light. Onto the power metal speed solos, jagged shreds and skidding chord sequences, we can now pin swaggering swamp riffery, which comes in the form of southern-spiked groover “Eyes Of Black”. They stand out mainly where the tracks ache for them most of all – tracks such as “Overcome” and the intrusively personal “Last Wish” inspired by Phipps’ experiences of close friends ending up on life support – “This life soon will come to an end / I’ll leave with my convictions”.

It’s important that we hear Susi’s emotive cadence again. His uplifting input is particularly effective on tracks “Watch It Burn” and “Overcome”, though it would have been great to hear him on more. But, alas, Unearth want you pinned down where they can get at you. You want proof? Just tune in to the no-holds-barred lyrics on final track “Disillusion” – “Lies! You fucking failed me”. In fact, “Equinox” is their only surrender to a change of pace and even that refuses to lie down, as the tinkling piano suggests it might, the build instead giving Phipps the opportunity to turn it into a crushing monster – “There’s no way out, there’s no way out”, he yells showing the band’s clear intentions. He recently pointed out “There’s a bunch of bands out there that are all trying to get in the spotlight, so it’s a case of fight or die, and our fists are flying, man.” Using brute force will only get them so far, so they may have to start seeking a more cerebral method of attack in the near future. However, if it’s brawn you’re looking for, you’ve most certainly come to the right place.

Also online @ The New Review = http://thenewreview.net/reviews/unearth-darkness-in-the-light

The full album stream is available here for a limited time.

DVD Review: Unearth - Alive From The Apocalypse

Disc One is the restrictively short live show that Unearth played in Pomona, California last year and has been edited down to just 45 minutes. Despite this fact and the restrictions of the venue on shot variety it truly gives any prospective punter an insight into the manic energy and aural assault that is the band’s live material. It’s achieved by rapid cutting between cameras and sequential close-up work that includes both a view of fret and stickwork as well as allowing zoomed frames displaying both the emotion of the crowd and the band. And it’s not found wanting for sound quality either. Every instrument is clear and crisp with Trevor Phipps’ vocals particularly intense.

As a live band, Unearth make particularly fascinating viewing simply because of their unique capacity to surprise with their music (a twisted combination of thrash-metal and hardcore) and their onstage antics. The two guitarists Buz McGrath and especially Ken Susi are dual blurs of motion, leaping off amps, swinging their guitars around their necks, playing each other’s strings mid-riff, and even doing press-ups in between producing a sequence of shreds that would make Freddie Krueger proud. And amidst it all, standing stock still, Phipps simply stands and lets roar with an ear-shattering volley of lyrics before turning to the crowd and yelling “Don’t just fucking stand there!”

I could go through each song but I think you’re getting the message. It’s a pretty impressive show (and one I’m already wishing I was at) and perhaps that’s the thing. Not being there means it eventually ends up as a slightly disappointing experience. And it’s not just the brevity of it all. It’s rather dark and gloomy on stage, with the occasional burst of colour and this tends to produce a feeling after awhile that you’ve seen it all already. Thankfully, there is the magic of Disc Two still to come.

It’s a 75-minute documentary which provides a full history of the band from their humble beginnings playing clubs to the raging force they’ve become today. The genius here is the liberal use of opinion and information from the band’s contemporaries. The willing contributors include luminaries like Tim Lambesis (As I Lay Dying), Matt DeVries (Chimaira), Hoya Roc (Madball), Corey Taylor (Slipknot/Stone Sour), Dino Cazeres (Fear Factory/Divine Heresy), Brian Fair (Shadows Fall), Adam Dutkiewicz (Killswitch Engage) and ex-Pantera legend, (currently with Hellyeah) Vinnie Paul. They provide many of the most comedic moments as they recant tour tales and insights into the true personalities of each of the Unearth band members. Find out who flipped the tour van and who puked!

I won’t go in to any further details but it really is a superb watch and makes you wonder whether these lads were actually born with a cameraman attached! Without this insanely brilliant documentary this would just be another half-arsed and ultimately inconsequential release, with its inclusion this becomes an essential purchase for all fans of metal.