They are back after 5 long years without an Unmerciful record. The respected US based band has been around for a long time. 2001 to be exact but they’ve not released anything physical until the beautiful year of 2004 being the ‘Weed Out The Weak’ demo. With band members having shared with the mighty Origin, Unmerciful have been a powerhouse to be reckoned with for many decades. 

 

Unmerciful have released their previous full length ‘Wrath Encompassed’ back in the not-so-beautiful year of 2020 which did give a positive brutal boost to that year for sure. That album did get a lot of praise which is absolutely right since it was an unrelenting album. Nothing else is expected with Unmerciful’s current latest release ‘Devouring Darkness’. And yes, it’s unrelenting too. Brutal death metal with a ton of groove. That is exactly the whole description I can give you. The sheer veracity is incredibly high during the, almost, 40-minute uncontrolled freight train that is heading straight for your sorry ass. 

 

‘Devouring Darkness’ feels like a very dense album. Every instrument is mixed to brutal perfection and it sounds whole. Not like a loose instrument that has been thrown into a mix and there you go. No, this is one of those complete albums. This is what you get and that’s it, nothing more and nothing less. Brutality is the main goal that Unmerciful had on their spreadsheet and if that isn’t the case, it should’ve been because this is a near perfect brutal death metal album and there are not a lot of them. 

 

Comparisons with other bands like Origin (duh), Hideous Divinity and a bit of Nile (minus the Egyptian theme) are quickly made. Especially during the slower parts during ‘Infernal Conquering’. During those moments, you will hear a lot of good ol’ Nile which is absolutely fine by me. Unmerciful does do it their way and they do it the brutal way. Quickly followed by their unrelenting brutal blasting beast-like beats and that is exactly what their fans expect. Unrelenting brutality is where they knock on the Unmerciful-door. 

 

There are no over-technical moments during the album which does feel refreshing. Nowadays, a lot of brutal death metal bands that want to sound like bands like Unmerciful do tend to go more towards the sweeping solo’s and insanely technical riffs. Not saying that Unmerciful doesn’t have technical stuff mixed into ‘Devouring Darkness’ but they do it more sophisticated and not like ‘Whoo techy sweep riffs’ right in your face. Unmerciful lets it flow more easily into their music. 

 

Same with the breakdowns during certain songs. A lot of modern bands are focussing more and more on the so-important-breakdowns where Unmerciful sneakily fits in their unrelenting breakdowns like in their song ‘Malice Unbound’. That breakdown that returns a couple of times during the track really gets my head bobbing and makes me feel very tough and powerful (which I am not, just tall and fat). I guess that is the greatest achievement a band can have on me. Unmerciful have done that and they deserve more attention with their amazing brutal release ‘Devouring Darkness’.

 

Tracklist:

1. Miracle In Fire

2. Unnatural Ferocity

3. Malice Unbound

4. Devouring Darkness

5. Relentless Malevolence

6. Vomit You Out (Origin Cover)

7. Infernal Conquering

8. The Reaping

9. Voracious Lunacy

10. Vengeance Transcending