REVIEW: Those Who Fear – Unholy Anger [2013]
Artist: Those Who Fear
Album: Unholy Anger
Label: Facedown Records
Preview: (Un)Holy Anger
Anyone in the mood for angrier than holy hell hardcore, disgustingly filthy beatdownic riffs and subwoofer shattering breakdowns? That’s what I thought, then maybe you should check out the latest effort of christian hardcore band Those Who Fear. I can hear what you are thinking right now: ”ugh another one of those preachy bands attempting to get their message across through music”, well if you know any of this bands older work you would know this is most definitely NOT the case here. Being a band since 2005 they probably released earlier albums or EP’s but the latest album ”Unholy Anger” is my introduction to this band, and it didnt take very long at all to fall in love in with this crushing album. Phrases like ”crushing”, ”heavy” and ”relentless” are used alot when describing metal releases of all sorts, and most are just that, but I have to say that ”Unholy Anger” puts them all to shame. Upon starting up this album for the first time you will know this is not a cd that should be listened in silence, the intro song ”Daggermouth” sets the mood for the rest of the album, and does an amazing job in doing so, if you were skeptical of this bands ability to perform or bring the anger before, at this point you probably will be swallowing your words and turning your volume all the way up. The well polished production and the agressive punishing sound go hand in hand here, and are even more appearant on the self titled track ”(Un)Holy Anger” and ”Holy anger”, when the pissed off sledgehammer flying towards your face factor is turned up to eleven, with relatable lyrics for everyone, and the underlying instrumentals that are so raw and filthy that you will probably consider a shower later on, these first three songs will get you PUMPED and ready to face any situation head on and and kick it to the fucking ground. From this point on there will be no serene instrumentals, no silky melodies, no clean singing, no samples, no experimentation, just hard fucking hitting brutality all the fucking time, no bullshit whatsoever. And ”Unholy Anger doesn’t need any of that, it would only get in the way of the very lovelable bass drops and fast hitting riffing being thrown at you, Those Who Fear is quite clearly a band that knows what it wants, which is making people headbang more than is socially acceptable and get fucking pissed and obliterate anything that stands in your path. If you did not have your fill of heavyness yet perhaps the annihilating intermission song ”Day of Judgement” wil cleanse your thirst for destruction, the tempo gets significantly faster again on the next tracks, especialy on my favorite track ”Relentless” which is just as the title would suggest. Blasting through 40 minutes of pure anger and groovy chugging, ”Unholy Anger” does not get boring or repetitive at any point and is great food for your subwoofer, with the same formula on every track, that is quite the accomplishment, and one of the reasons it sets itself apart from other albums.
Not many bands can manage to combine a pissed off sound, a very heavy sound, and having an excellent production in the process, to my surprise ”Unholy anger” has all of those, and more.
After hearing this album just once, I see no other option then to give this ”Unholy Anger” my highest rating, it is everything I love about the genre (second perfect 10 rating already and its still early 2013, this is becoming a very sick year for metal!). With a truly excellent production and an equally impressive aggresive sound, its hard not to love this album, even for you super hardcore christian haters out there, I highly recommend getting this, it should be in everyones collection for sure. This very well might be the best hardcore album you will hear in 2013.
Rating: 10/10
For fans of: Emmure, The Acacia Strain, Lionheart, Colossal, Bury Your Dead, Demolisher
