You’ll Wish You Were Unborn
In 1995, once touted “Cannibal Corpse side-project,” Six Feet Under released their first LP, Haunted. Chris Barnes was done with the Cannibal crew and was off to one up his former peers by making even more outlandishly Halloween-esque gore-metal. Album after album came out to so-so reaction from most of the metal world, but was graciously taken in and nearly worshiped by Barnes devotees. Now, nearly 20 years later, the tenth Six Feet Under album is here in all it’s dread-locked glory. Unborn is part old-school death, part early ’90s thrash, part butt-rock, and all parts predictable. Best sack up and man your fiercest power-frown for some unadulterated face-melting pretension.
Not quite out of the gate like most, “Neuro Osmosis” opens the album with a dark balladeer of acoustic guitar drudgery only to blow your denim vest off with some Mesa-Rectified grind-sludge. Its execution is done surprisingly well for the sub-genre, which has been plagued by poor recording budgets and overall extreme campiness. “Prophecy” opens next with some textbook Carcass style riffs, but quickly reverts to classic Florida-era death chugs. All the Chris Barnes fans need not worry, his famous (or infamous, depending on your opinion) “Cookie Monster” vocals are there in full effect. Surprisingly enough, though, not too much “EEEEEEEEEEEEE-OOOOOOOOOO-AHHHHHHHHHHH” action going on. This might be the barkiest, or gruntiest we’ve heard Mr. Barnes.
After the end of neo butt-rock classic and album single, “Zombie Blood Curse,” it’s clear that Six Feet Under have completely run out of ideas. Even the title is dreadful. “Zombie Blood Curse”??? COME ON, GUYS. The rest of the titles are equally as gawping: “Decapitate,” “Incision,” “Alive to Kill You,” “The Sinister Craving.” This is really sad, people. Well, not entirely–there are still some pretty cool guitar riffs and such–but Unborn is horribly formulaic.
There is almost no point in describing every song here, cause they all sound the same for the most part. However, the first two mentioned are pretty good, and the final track, “The Curse of Ancients,” is not bad at all despite it’s intro sounding almost too much like Behemoth with a touch of Amon Amarth. But, overall, you’re only gonna blast this album non-stop if you’re a Barnes fan or don’t mind the same death metal album over and over. It’s like being a Nile fan in terms of what to expect: Egypt, sacrifice, Gods of the Underworld, etc. With Six Feet Under you got: zombies, murderers, urge to kill, suffering, etc. Six Feet Under have successfully made an album so whole-wheat, cut-and-dried, and unremarkable you’d wish you were Unborn…now that is brutal.
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