Unearthly Trance

The Trident

[4/5] Even doom-metal fans could be forgiven for not knowing Unearthly Trance are from Long Island: The band’s music is so grimy, so they-sound-like-they’d-smell-bad, the logical assumption is that they’re another New Orleans sludge-doom outfit following in the slime trail of Acid Bath and Eyehategod. And while they’ve sped up a bit since their debut in 2003, The Trident proves Unearthly Trance would still rather crawl through the muck of human misery than rock out; songs such as “You Get What You Want” and “Wake Up And Smell The Corpse” indicate the band’s rage is mostly directed outward. (Note to Khanate: You have some competition in the utter-despair sweepstakes.) Possibly their strongest attribute is vocalist Rion Lipynsky, who’s mastered not only the buried-alive howl of misery, but also a pissed-off punk/death-metal roar. And Jay Newman’s bass sound, well–let’s just say you should be wearing diapers when the dude plugs in.
(RELAPSE) Phil Freeman