Review Summary: A poor foray into the "heaviest album ever" territory.
-Black Tongue. Like or hate them they are one of the most notorious bands in Deathcore right now. Why? Namely because the entirety of their musical existence is to be as sluggishly heavy as a band physically can before the notes are so low whales can't hear them. Unfortunately, no matter what good you pull from this, that is nearly all you can pull from the band. Real riffs are scarce as you plod your way through a state of constant breakdown. I'll surely give Black Tongue this-they win the lowest tuning contest for sure. However, as repetitive and insipid as this gets I did say there were really riffs, and when Black Tongue wants to riff they riff hard. Unfortunately, 15 seconds per song of badass riffs don't justify riffs so slow and similar you begrudge listening to them. However from this festival of metal bludgeoning, there are some positive aspects I actually enjoyed in "The Unconquerable Dark."
Namely, the vocalist. His range is incredibly minimal, but he can belt some absolutely enraged beat downs of lyrics. He sounds ill of man as much as he speaks it. I've never heard more than maybe one or two vocalist who can actually convey the hatred they feel in their lyrics in their voice as well as the vocalist for Black Tongue. For example: "A city turns to ash - black death. The flames grow tall, charred husks, blistered flesh. This sickness forced our hand. We had to take a stand against those who reprimand this necessary evil."
This is a line from the song "Young Gloom", one of the stronger tracks off the album. The hatred is pure and justified, and simply penned down so well. The vocalist shows an inept ability to writing intelligently and deliver his message very bluntly yet still with enough dark poetry to awe the listener. Unfortunately the rest of the music doesn't back this as well. It loses itself in this rather unexciting murk making the actual darkness of the vocals begin to seem as bland as the rest of the record.
This again being simply because the music is forced. It only prides itself in its brutality, being intentionally so heavy any form of musicianship is mostly disregarded. Still, instrumentally this is actually a step up from "Born Hanged". When you aren't plodding through at a one-note-per-minute pace, there is some dark and pretty sinister ambiance in the background, and once again, occasional riffs that truly induce a bit of headbanging. The only instrument I haven't said much about so far is the drums (and bass but the difference gets murky sometimes), and that's because they are simple and hug the guitars. There is occasional kick pedal action but nothing more to speak of.
Although perhaps not as much as "Born Hanged", this is still a poor foray into the "heaviest album ever" territory. Riffs that come across as more unoriginal the more they cycle through all 46 minutes of this album and drumming that hugs the guitar to death restrain this album from its potential. The power and passion is there-The vocalist is roaring and truly outspoken, and they did accomplish the goal they set out for-to make the heaviest album possible. It's just this one-track mind that prevents Black Tongue from blossoming into fruition. However I wouldn't write off black tongue yet, because they have shown they can improve, if only very slightly.
