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Underminded - Hail Unamerican! (Cover Artwork)

Underminded

Hail Unamerican! (2004)
Kung Fu Records

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: soulbleed
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on October 26th 2004

Although they started out as a So-Cal hardcore punk outfit that sometimes sounded like a less-commercial version of The Used, Underminded somehow morphed into a breakdown-loving, double-bass-thrashing metalcore/punk combo. They signed on with Kung Fu records after much publicity from a webzine called Decoy and landed a very important slot on the SmartPunk stage for the 2004 Warped Tour.

Sometime shortly after that tour ended, Underminded blessed the world with their debut album, Hail Unamerican!. While the title screams politics, it's not really political at all -- plus or minus one song -- it's more just uh, interesting. The band has some very good moments, both lyrically and musically, especially when they're sticking closer to the sound they experimented with mostly at the beginning of their career (the excellent "Burn the Metropolis," for one), but for the most part, they're kind of stagnant. There's a little too much breakdown in every song and whatever momentum the song is building at the time is almost always killed -- but fortunately, the band can play their instruments quite well (the drummer is only seventeen and he can play on par with some twice his age) and the vocals are excellent.

Songs like "It's Kinda Like A Bodybag" scream for a good new-school metalcore pit, "Burn the Metropolis" has some great anthemic chants going on in the chorus, and "Pablo Escobar's Secret Stash Revisited" just kinda kicks ass; it sounds so evil. The Thrice-like guitars mesh well with the degree-lessened Unearth vocals and the Stillborn Records style hardcore group screams in the background to form an interesting amalgam of... well, hardcore stuff. That statement right there kind of fits the whole album, too. When Hail Unamerican isn't stalling in its own ambitions, it's a pretty rockin' good time.

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Anonymous (July 7, 2005)

well produced and the dudes can play, but holy cliche generic hardcore batman. Could you rip refused off any more?

Anonymous (March 9, 2005)

the best band ever...

punkcorekid (October 28, 2004)

yes, i'm an eigth grader....or maybe the fact that im walking to get a drink and i hear a guy yell "i want you to bend over and spread your ass cheeks really wide" and that just happens to be so random and stupid it's funny. who knows.

Anonymous (October 27, 2004)

"umm they are considered a hardcore band? i saw them live at the house of blues in anaheim with the vandals last month and i thought they were mediocore at best. the only thing hard core was how bad the crowd wanted those douches off the stage. now take it away x hardcore x fags."

not every hardcore band is straight edge.. but its cool how everyone likes to stereotype.. of course The Vandals crowd isnt going to like it.. I saw a bunch of you pussies getting pissed off at the hardcore dancers.

Anonymous (October 27, 2004)

"their opening line at warped tour was "i want you guys to bend over and spread your ass cheeks really wide" or something to that effect. hilarious. good show."

yeah, hilarious......for an eighth grader maybe

- jones the bones wants you to get ass raped too, he just never knew thats the kind of humor people on this board like

punkcorekid (October 27, 2004)

their opening line at warped tour was "i want you guys to bend over and spread your ass cheeks really wide" or something to that effect. hilarious. good show.

Anonymous (October 27, 2004)

That guy's on crack. I was at the Anaheim show and Underminded tore that shit up and the crowd went nuts for it.

You must be confused with The Matches. They're the ones that sucked that night.

Allular (October 27, 2004)

"umm they are considered a hardcore band? i saw them live at the house of blues in anaheim with the vandals last month and i thought they were mediocore at best. the only thing hard core was how bad the crowd wanted those douches off the stage. now take it away x hardcore x fags."

What do you expect, they're PLAYING WITH THE VANDALS.

Anonymous (October 27, 2004)

Hmmmmm, the opinions of my peers below make me think that maybe I should give this another listen.

Barkley

Anonymous (October 27, 2004)

umm they are considered a hardcore band? i saw them live at the house of blues in anaheim with the vandals last month and i thought they were mediocore at best. the only thing hard core was how bad the crowd wanted those douches off the stage. now take it away x hardcore x fags.

Anonymous (October 27, 2004)

This is one of the best hardcore albums of 2004 easily.

Anonymous (October 27, 2004)

great band. great guys.

it's great to see bands reallllly work to get somewhere. these guys have played countless shows in san diego and have really gained a strong fan base. this band has my respect.

Allular (October 27, 2004)

These guys were one of the highlights for Warped tour for me. These guys set up and took apart the stage every single day for their slot and they ripped every day.

I have yet to get the cd but I've heard many songs. Good stuff.

stevejonestherealbones (October 27, 2004)

i saw these guys with vandals. they blew. they sucked hard. every song sounded the same.

and

if " it's not really political at all -- plus or minus one song "

does that mean there is either one political song or negative one political songs?

- jones the boner

innocentbystander (October 27, 2004)

cool bunch of guys. their music is good too.

Anonymous (October 26, 2004)

will this Mark check it out?

perhaps, friends, perhaps.

Jesse (October 26, 2004)

Jesus...everytime I see Unearth I always think it says Underoath...ughhh...

Those are not the same bands.

inagreendase (October 26, 2004)

Good review, pretty good album, totally agreed.

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