review: Unmerciful

Unmerciful

Wrath Encompassed

Willowtip Records

24 April 2020

“I wanna go fast!” -Ricky Bobby

“If you ain’t first, you’re last!” -Ricky Bobby

Listening to this blast attack team is a test of the audience’s capacity to focus on small details at high velocities, like reading while running full speed on a treadmill. Fun, right? And how! What does the passenger see on the side of the road looking out the window when the car is going 75 miles per hour (not when you look into the distance but when you look at the side of the road right next to the car)? Can the passenger assemble a mental picture of what they’re seeing? Endurance, dexterity, precision and taking human ability to its limits. The American Midwestern group excels at blistering speed. The guitars shred and gallop, while the bass guitar, drums and growling create synchronized chaos.

This is not melodic, it’s not catchy because the objective is not ear-friendly tunes but exercises in super fast compositions. Some listeners will enjoy that all-out nonstop style, while others will appreciate the challenge of putting together the puzzle at this speed. Many fans just like the ridiculous speeds and some young musicians will take up learning to play fast, tight, shredding, carpal tunnel-causing guitar. Young drummers will find out if they can train themselves to be this agile, tough and alert to play this way for long periods of time.

The blinding speeds are tons of fun, but just as important is skill. Unmerciful has nothing to offer to fans if not an obsessive compulsive fixation on playing the music air tight and doing it well, as well as it is possible by imperfect, living beings made of flesh and blood. It will take cyborgs to play faster, tighter and better than this. Until that time arrives, enjoy this warp speed ride. Now, listen, Ricky, you may be wondering to yourself, "Should I give Unmerciful a listen?" That's the problem. Too much thinking. "And here you sit, thinking. Well, Ricky Bobby is not a thinker. Ricky Bobby is a driver. He is a doer. And that's what you need to do. You don't need to think. You need to drive. You need speed. You need to go out there, and you need to rev your engine. You need to fire it up. You need to grab a hold of that line between speed and chaos, and you need to wrestle it to the ground like a demon cobra!" Word.

unmerciful.bandcamp.com/releases