Review Summary: Bone-crushing.
True heaviness can be a difficult thing to come by these days when it comes to metal and hardcore. Sure, you can trigger your drums as much as you want, and use as many pedals or fancy amps as you desire, but true heaviness is an attitude; something that comes from within you. If you try to force it, it will just seem mechanical, passionless, and maybe even dull. Earthmover, however, seem to find the perfect balance of passionate heaviness on their second and final LP, Death Carved In Every Word.
From the beginning, this album is big. Starting with a loud, downtuned guitar chord held and left to ring with pounding drums crashing around it, the atmosphere of the record is introduced in mere seconds. Splashes of dissonance are peppered throughout, until nothing is heard but mounds of feedback.
Then it starts. The vocalist comes in, pissed as hell, and all the other band members join in on the angst, making a large, bone-crushing assault on the ears. While mostly drudging along at a mid-paced groove, the track shows that this band is not afraid to enter crusty D-beat sections and just plain go old school hardcore.
Having said that, they are also very susceptible to the breakdown. Fear not, however, because this is 1998 metalcore, not 2008. Instead of having multiple breakdowns per song (or even starting a track with one), they only insert them where they sound like they work. Where they add to the flow of the song, seem like the logical next step in the song structure, and, of course, bring the heavy. While they do typically chug along in typical metalcore fashion, the band (utilizing two guitars, I believe) brings in dissonant overarching guitar lines to bring a truly epic and massive feel to the song.
The production only adds to the sheer size of this album. With mammoth guitar tones, a pounding drum sound, it really does sound like it was recorded in the center of the earth. The bass, while usually buried, has a wonderful slinky sound to it as well, making the few moments where it pops up pretty exciting.
All in all, if you are into hardcore, or even heavy music in general, there’s no reason not to like this. It riffs, it chugs (but not too much!), and, most importantly, it’s passionate. And that’s the most important thing in music. It’s not about money. It’s about truth.
