### Unearthly Trance: V

#### 20/12/10 || Khlysty

Okay, I got a question for you. I have already review’d three Unearthly Trance (hereto forth to be called UT for simplicity reasons in this here review) records for GD. Can you tell me how many of you got enough interested to buy/illegally download and listen to even one – any… – of them?

I’m waiting…

Can you, please raise yer hands?…

Still waiting…

… … …

Thought so. Still, I’m a stubborn bastard, so I will keep on reviewing UT’s records for this site. See, I still have enough hope that someone will really appreciate the band’s extreme and extremely intense take on doom metal, which is one of the best things that I have ever been afflicted by.

So, “V”. The fifth, in almost ten years of existence. I really have no idea if the number has any magickal/mystical/occult meanings and connotations. All I know is that, once again, UT unfailingly deliver the pain with this hour-long trip into doom’s more extreme venues and darkest corners.

This time around, the band doesn’t fuck around with rhythmic play: everything here is slow and oppressive. The huge guitar/bass sound, the spacious drumming, the tortured, incredibly versatile vocal performance by Ryan Lipynsky, the spare compositions… everything spells “ugly”, in huge-ass letters.

This seemingly simplistic approach towards the music makes “V” a bit less immediate than, say, “Electrocution” or “The Trident” (which I shall review pretty soon and you better believe it). But when one passes the threshold and embraces what’s in store here, this record has incredible things to offer.

The riffs come and come and come some more, each and everyone designed to evoke feelings of pain, despair and ugliness to the listener. The guitar work by Lipynsky is amazingly precise and creative, while the rhythm section provides a suffocatingly dense backbone to the music at hand.

What surprises me, though, is UT’s ability to create memorable melodies that actually work perfectly within the almost unbearable intensity of the songs. Smart little ditties appear here and there, ingeniously placed amidst the seemingly hanging-by-a-thread chaos of hatred and despair that’s the basis of almost every song.

Look, I won’t tell you more about “V”. It’s a fucking good record that displays every power UT possesses and, at the same time, shows that the band still progresses. One great work by one great band. Still not ready for ‘em? Well, too bad for you…

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Relapse
- Website: www.unearthlytrance.com
- Band
- Ryan Lipynsky: vocals, guitar
- Jay Newman: bass, noise
- Darren Verni: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Unveiled
- 02. The Horsemen Arrive In The Night
- 03. Solar Eye
- 04. Adversaries Mask 1
- 05. Adversaries Mask 2
- 06. The Tesla Effect
- 07. Sleeping While They Feast
- 08. Submerged Metropolis
- 09 Current
- 10. Physical Universe Distorts
- 11. Into A Chasm
- 12. The Leveling
- 13. Hidden untitled track