I was pretty sure that the second 'official' full length from East Coast least favorite sons Unearthly Trance was going to suffer from the 'One Trick Pony' syndrome. Another 40 minutes plus of the same slow, occult-filled blackened doom that's been their hallmark since their Nuit/Sonicburialhymns demo back in 2001 and continuted through a couple of 7"'s and peaked 2003's phenomenal Season of Séance, Science of Silence full length. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the rehash grows old.

The One Trick Pony is dead. Sure they're still f'd up, and their trademark sound is still intact, but In The Red is another take on their Drug Doom aesthetic . First, the listener will note that In The Red is a more rock n' roll album. Yep. They backed off a bit on the creepy atmospherics and instead instilled a more Supercoven/Burnout approach. Monolithic riffs that actually repeat themselves, some Iommi-ish trills, drummer Darren Verni actually playing an uptempo, syncopated beat (for a little while, anyway) and the kicker: UE shock the hell out of everyone and play what sounds like a groove for more than a few bars.

Don't let the above scare you UE diehards, though. There's still plenty of blackened moments: Vocalist Rion Lipynsky still spews negative, arguably steam-of-consciousness larynx-shredders like a Satanic Kerouac and guitarist Jay Newman still creates weight and form that must seem like a direct transmission from Beelzebub had you been on the right psychotropics. And with that, I issue caution for you psychonauts - there's still plenty of "what –the-hell???" atmospherics to ruin a good buzz. You could listen to "Deathothic" on repeat over and over swear you've reached an unholy nadir that'd make a nasty flashback.

[ Discography ] 

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Label: Rise Above | Item Code: RISE 055 | Country: United States | Year: 2004 | Genre: Doom Metal

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