Six Feet Under - Unborn Review
by Matt Hensch
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Whatever unspeakable act Chris Barnes and Steve Swanson performed on the rotting corpse of Six Feet Under proved beneficial, after they washed off the stink, of course. After a vile, ruthless offspring in the form of "Undead" revived the seminal death metal squad with a refreshed sound and improved lineup, Six Feet Under's rebuttal to the head-turning (or smashing) opusreleased less than a year latercomes in the form of "Unborn," an album which matches many of the ideas purposed by its psychopathic twin. "Unborn" sounds like "Undead," looks like "Undead," feels like "Undead." Both records are essentially identical, but like brothers of the same blood, they are different still. The largest similarity they share, other than the musical themes, is the consistency most of Six Feet Under's previous children lack.While the stylistic elements of "Undead" are contaminating the soul of "Unborn" as well, Six Feet Under delivers what is definitely the best array of songs they've ever forged. Kevin Talley's bombastic percussion style cycles in and out of the groove-laden blueprint without losing a drop of his technical elegance, and "Unborn" is probably his most memorable output, ever. Barnes sounds completely alive and hungry; low and guttural belches like Hell unleashed, on par with his best SFU output, "Undead." The plethora of guitarists, each contributing his own compositions and idiosyncratic riffs, gives the record a degree of variety that keeps things fresh and lively, at least in the sense of decomposing filth. Mentioning a Barnes-era Cannibal Corpse vibe wouldn't be too far from a handful of these abominations. Many ideas and themes conjure images of "Butchered at Birth" or "The Bleeding" stitched to the butts of Swanson and Barnes. Can't complain about that. Six Feet Under, despite the lineup shifts and altered traits, is still Six Feet Under; they make no attempt to fool anyone into thinking they're any different. With that being said, "Unborn" remains confident and muscular, another pulsing anthology of bloody death metal. Opener "Neuro Osmosis" mends the groove DNA of Six Feet Under into acoustic licks and mysterious guitar leads overshadowing the whole picture, like some atmospheric groove monster. It is indeed a weird one, but one of the finer gems within ten albums of original material. This moment of butchering bliss is, thankfully, seldom dropped, and replicated throughout handfuls of hooking riffs and brutal assaults like "Incision" and "The Curse of Ancients." Like "Undead," the songwriting packs a massive slug into anyone that thought Six Feet Under was completely incapable of penning cohesive, adamant anthems. Blast beats and blazing guitar movements escort many of the tunes between the mid-paced hammering Six Feet Under ties into every slice, which I'm glad they never jeopardized during their gory resurrection. See the parallels? "Unborn" feels, tastes, smells like "Undead." It's essentially the same album copied and pasted, yet that's not detrimental toward Six Feet Under's efforts. In fact, I think "Unborn" is a little better. Fleshing out the outliers, "Fragment" and "Decapitate" derail the record a bit, but the overall album remains wonderfully reliable. It has the best sound quality, songwriting, attitude, intensity, atmosphere, and vigor than any other Six Feet Under manifesto available in the squad's parasitic discography. I can't think of anything that can capture the idea of Six Feet Under better than "Unborn," personally. Chris Barnes and company have shown Six Feet Under's rejuvenation is not due to chance: they are officially statistically significant.
Six Feet Under - Unborn Rating:8.0
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