Album Review: Unmerciful - Devouring Darkness
Reviewed by Dan Phipps
Formed in 2001 Unmerciful are responsible for one of the most furious debut full lengths released in the last 20 years (2006’s Unmercifully Beaten) and have gone through various stages of activity since. Coming from Topeka in Kansas they share lineage with Topeka’s biggest death metal export Origin, where both Clint Applehanz and Jeremy Turner have previously been members in the past. Devouring Darkness which is the bands 4th full length album, it see’s Jeremy Turner move back onto guitar duty which will be his first time recording guitars for the band since its sophomore record and it also sees the bands frontman’s Josh Riley first record with the band.
The Unmerciful formula to put it simply, is mean as hell. If you have never picked up one of their previous releases they don't pull any punches as they combine brute force with precision technicality and it just keeps coming in droves track by track absolutely beating your skull in. A key cog in the skull beating that Unmerciful provides is behind the kit and drummer Trynt Kelly answers the call as his absolutely flawless drumming really takes command, with his feet providing relentless kick activity which goes pretty much continuously throughout the first three tracks of the record. Guitar wise they are sharp, technical and played with absolute precision. The approach is consistent as ever and it works.
Unmerciful continue to deliver punch all throughout the one thing I feel is lacking is the impact of any bass within these songs, which was also something I felt was missing slightly with the bands last record. All this high octane brutality is crafted together with zero margin for error and this is why I feel we are seeing less bands able to match the brutal and technical side of the genre in this way, thankfully bands like Unmerciful are still doing their thing. One thing I did find to be slightly different were the vocals. Normally I would expect the vocal approach to be more aggressive, more attacking in the delivery however on Devouring Darkness they seem to not have this intensity, leaving the music to pack all the punch and the vocals helping fill out the huge sound.
Devouring Darkness is a ten track collection of vicious technical death metal. They might not be the most regular band when it comes to releasing new music yet Unmerciful remain as consistent as ever.
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