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Unearth

Our Days of Eulogy
2005
Eulogy

Unearth - Our Days of Eulogy (Cover Artwork)

Review by: Anchors
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Published on January 27th 2006

"It’s been too fucking long Long Island, show us what we’ve been missing, let's go!" commands Unearth vocalist Trevor Phipps on “My Heart Bleeds No Longer,” the first of five live tracks taken from that Long Island performance. Our Days of Eulogy accompanies these five tracks with their now out-of-print EPs, Fall of Man and Endless, and the compilation serves as a terrific window into the chaotic metal style of the Massachusetts natives.

From somebody who’s seen Unearth live, I can attest to these live cuts being a terrific representation of how they come across in person. Everything just sounds completely on point; the guitars are even louder than you’d anticipate, and Phipps has a real command of everything before him. His voice rips through the heavy riffing, the pounding drums, the thundering breakdowns, to dominate a good portion of Unearth's presence. “Internal War” sounds absolutely destructive live; you can feel the speakers shake from the bass reverberations, and just the overall awesome power the five-piece possesses.

The live tracks are a nice prelude for what’s to come, but it’s the main source of content, these two EPs, that’s really the record's main draw. These are the songs in which Unearth really started to hone their craft. Combining a tinge of hardcore into their metal attack, rather than the other way around, they waste no time with formality, coming out on all cylinders with the title track from Endless. Phipps had yet to truly find his vocal niche, and as a result, much of his delivery is more varied than it would come to be on later efforts. Sometimes deep, hardcore shouting, others raspy, quickly delivered vocals largely inspired by melodic death metal, it all depended on the individual moment of each individual song. At the time, they just really hadn’t found their niche, and while the songs do reflect that, there’s still a lot of terrific metal to be found.

The recorded version of “Internal War” sounds even better than the live version, as this is one of those instances where the vocals are truly top notch, and the guitar work is incredibly suited for it. Quick but challenging riffs rage over the melodic undercurrents that fade in and out periodically. Still managing to incorporate the breakdowns though, there’s some rather large ones to be found on this track, and the followup “The Charm,” which could easily be considered the best song on the album. Coincidentally, it’s also the shortest, but don’t let that fool you as the song absolutely destroys with its unrelenting combination of fury and melody, encompassing some of the best riffing than Unearth has ever implemented. Where things go slightly sour is on the Above the Fall of Man EP, which accounts for the last 4 tracks on the album. Seemingly rushed and underproduced, none of the tracks have the impact that Unearth is so well known for. The songs are noticeably slower, and frankly less engaging than the previous EP.

Some great material from early Unearth, and some rather bland cuts as well, the live songs tip the balance in favor of “good,” but any of the band's more recent albums will be more satisfying to even the casual fan of metal.

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Posted by mysillyname on 2006-01-29 14:23:44

Live tracks?! who do these guys think they are!?

not that i dislike unearth. i just think its strange for them to have a live album.

anyway, good review.

Posted by k-dubs on 2006-01-28 15:43:01
My Score:

this is a great cd, good compliations of releases i wish i had got when they came out, and the live tracks are stellar. nice review anchors.

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, January 28, 2006 at 12:47 PM (EST)

" I passed up the chance to go see them with Norma Jean and Atreyu"

Dude, didn't you want to pay $20 see a bunch of frustrated jocks with hockey pucks in their ears swinging their arms at a distance just short of actually hitting someone, while a bunch of overpaid whiteboys on stage play the same open E breakdown riff for 2 hours? You sure missed out!

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, January 28, 2006 at 12:44 PM (EST)

Why didn't they name their record "Our days of peddling horseshit to kids who don't know any better" ?

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, January 28, 2006 at 12:42 PM (EST)

"Smug little rich kids playing poor. Romanticizing poverty / Always have it easy. Trust fund fucker in a low rent neighborhood / management position, laptop and a cell phone / When you're on vacation we're burning down your home."

Oops, I mean

"Stop my bleeding heart, the world is so dark"

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, January 28, 2006 at 4:21 AM (EST)

anchors are you aware of the chronology of this band?
above the fall of man EP 1999
stings of conscience LP 2001
Endless EP 2002
the oncoming storm LP 2004

'honing their craft' on above the fall of man?? for sure.
but really dont think they were still 'honing' on the endless EP. the title track was re-recorded (with little change) on their latest cd and both 'the charm' and "internal war" could have easily fit on 'the oncoming storm'

will..despite having a song called 'my heart bleeds no longer' this band do not have sappy heartbreak lyrics. they are mostly social/political esp on the latest release

finally. this band owns darkest hour. if only for the fact that the vocalist is intelligible and doesnt sound like he is trying to sing with a dislocated jaw

~alexwank

Posted by crazytoledo on 2006-01-27 23:51:02

If you look back at an event, such as hanging out all day before getting a real job and clue in life, you could say, my days of hanging out.

Not a big deal.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 27, 2006 at 8:25 PM (EST)

Then why isn't it "Our Days ON Eulogy"?

-Will

Posted by crazytoledo on 2006-01-27 18:30:16

What a hilariously stupid album name. "Our days of eulogy" couldn't possibly be any more nonsensical. I guess that "our days of eulogizing" or "our days of giving eulogies" didn't sound metal enough. What a lame band.

I dont know if your sarcastic or ignorant, seems we get a lot of both, but this is a collection of live songs and songs from eps and demos from when they were on Eulogy records.

Hence the name.

Posted by Big_Guy on 2006-01-27 15:58:07

Unearth is real solid live, but for their kind of style, I think that Darkest Hour does it a ton better.

I think Unearth is more talented (except for Kris Norris) and writes more interesting songs, but for some reason, I like Darkest Hour better.

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 27, 2006 at 3:55 PM (EST)

""It’s been too fucking long Long Island, show us what we’ve been missing, let's go!" commands Unearth vocalist Trevor Phipps on “My Heart Bleeds No Longer,”"

I stopped reading there. "My Heart Bleeds No Longer?" This band deserves to be pulled out their huge tour bus in the middle of the night and shot in a field by the Reagan SS.

-Will

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 27, 2006 at 3:39 PM (EST)
My Score:

Posted by Anchors on 2006-01-27 15:04:37

Unearth is real solid live, but for their kind of style, I think that Darkest Hour does it a ton better.

Posted by davebrave4 on 2006-01-27 14:33:34

Almost saw these guys in Milwaukee with As I Lay Dying. Then I decided they look boring and generic.

By the way, Underoath is a different band, albeit still just as generic and way too popular.

Posted by crazytoledo on 2006-01-27 10:42:43

Unearths CDs are always awesome at first, but then grow to become stale and boring.

Posted by the_other_scott on 2006-01-27 08:46:09

i always thought these guys were called Underoath for some reason

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, January 27, 2006 at 8:43 AM (EST)

I unearthed a pile of shit my dog buried in the back yard..It resembled this band quite a bit.

Posted by LeightonESmith on 2006-01-27 05:48:04

If Unearth was a chick I would want to fuck her.
Those guys would be sick to see live and I passed up the chance to go see them with Norma Jean and Atreyu. It would have been fun.
Ah well
m/ m/

www.myspace.com/LeightonESmith

P.s. Am I the first to comment?