Unearth

The March

[4/5]

The March begins oddly for a group who’ve been rightly touted as varsity players in metal’s new school. The first two cuts are curiously banal metalcore-they prove the five-man Massachusetts militia can play any extreme-music variation better than the next guy-and the raging old-school solo from “My Will Be Done” deserves a far better song. Start instead with “Crow Killer,” a whirling dervish of barbed-wire riffage, or the shock-and-awe title track, which makes good on the slow start. With The March, Unearth’s metalcore and straight-hardcore content decrease, replaced by guitarists Buz McGrath’s and Ken Susi’s renewed emphasis on Swedish-style fretboard wizardry, blown forward by gale-force thrash rhythms. The heavyweight “Cutman” is the kind of workout that requires a warm-up, even if you’re just listening. The lyrics say something about being the unstoppable chosen ones-but the guitars say it better than the words. (METAL BLADE) D.X. Ferris