Released: Mar 19, 2013
Genre: Death Metal, Groove Metal, Death 'n' Roll
Label: Metal Blade
Number Of Tracks: 11
Death metal for people who have Dimebag Darrell set as their Facebook picture.
UnbornFeatured review by: UG Team, on march 21, 2013 1 of 10 people found this review helpful
Sound: I bet that Chris Barnes hoped that after 20 years, 10 full-lengths and 3 cover albums (...) the music press would have stopped referring to him as "the former Cannibal Corpse vocalist". Unfortunately though, that's still the most interesting thing about his band and new album "Unborn" is, to put it kindly, artistically stunted. "Prophecy" drags four bumbling riffs by the knuckles through a braindead stomp. "Zombie Blood Curse" has all the smarts of its name and none of the excitement. "Incision" is perhaps the longest midsection Avenged Sevenfold never wrote. Song after song, you think the big bucks production (and admittedly decent guitar tone) might have won you over, but just as quickly you remember that this album is almost devoid of real creativity.
There's something else that this album doesn't have which some people might presume it does – death metal. It has Barnes' unmistakeable growl but there's no speed, no twist of the knife, very few traces of the genre whatsoever. It plods around like a homeless man drunk out of his skull. It's death metal for people who have Dimebag Darrell set as their Facebook picture. // 4
Lyrics and Singing: Credit where credit's due though – Barnes has pulled his voice back from the brink of destruction. There was a time when the man sounded so baked that his performance was more of a cough than a growl; on "Unborn" he's rediscovered a voice which suits his music. He keeps his voice low and his lyrics fairly simple and while there's nothing at all special about what he does, it is at least a plus point when you put his career in context. // 2
Impression: Someone out there's listening to this stuff and to you, I apologise. But before that I implore you to take a closer look at what this genre has to offer and see what else might be out there for you. I wish I could give "Unborn" less, but unfortunately this band did an AC/DC covers album in 2004 and the lowest scores must be protected in case such an incident occurs again. Godspeed.
That was a rather terrible review in my opinion, you could have broken down the songs more, mentioned that Ola Englund was the new guitarist, the fact that each guitarist wrote several songs each, rather than collaborating. Perhaps the production value of the CD, yes you mentioned the guitar tone, but you could have mentioned the Mixing. There are so many things you missed out on talking about; you seemed to prefer passing stabs at Barnes. You seem to have spoken more about different releases rather than the Unborn CD. It was meant to be a Six Feet Under - Unborn review, rather than a Stab at the back catalogue of the band.
i really took a problem with the lyrics and singing section. i know of chris barnes, dont know sfu, and that section was a short paragraph of yeah it was pretty decent and then gave it a 2.
A review doesn't need to talk about the production quality, or the mixing. It doesn't need to break down the songs more, because it was made pretty clear that the album is a death metal album devoid of creativity. You can safely assume that the songs aren't worth going in to detail over. The review need only indicate whether the album is good or bad. And it's shit, which the review established nicely. So stop crying.
Those two songs posted here aren't that bad. I haven't listened to the album, but if the rest is as decent as those songs, it would be more like a 7 and not a 3. This review is worse than the actual music.
Well the guitar tones and overall mixing are bound to impress with Ola Englund behind them. Though I have to say, upon listening, he is still the only feature of the band I really like.
Exactly. Before him SFU was just another run-of-the-mill band with nothing to stand out. Now, with Ola at least they have something remarkable, and this album isn't actually that bad. Nothing outstanding or memorable, for sure, but at least it's a huge improvement over their previous work, and the overall sound is really good. A 6 or 6.5 is actually closer to the rating it should have in my opinion.
This was a mass of cheap shots under the guise of a review, and is disgusting when this isn't some random blog but a 'professional' website.
Further more Undead and Unborn are great albums.
Haha. I have a cartoon pic of dimebag on facebook.. the only reason I read this article. Don't care for six feet under too much. Not very creative in my opinion.
This guy obviously has some personal issue with Chris Barnes. Just about every review site is giving unborn fairly solid reviews. I am really loving this album..nothing fancy just heavy brutal old school death metal. Kevin Talley is a BEAST on the drum kit, the bass player is amazing, great guitar tone, and signature guttural vocals from one of the innovators Mr. Chris Barnes. 8/10
Forgive my bad Grammar and Spelling.