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The Unseen

Internal Salvation

Written by: AG on 16/08/2007 19:23:42

The best poker players can beat people without looking at their hand. I could review this album without listening to it. I guess that makes me special. For years, The Unseen have released equally decent hardcore-street punk with a melodic edge. I could tell you there's going to be gang vocals, scream-your-lungs-out choruses and simplistic riffs. I'm going to say that it's cool for some time, but that every song sounds the same and that it has no lasting value.

Well not exactly. Of course, for their 6th studio album, The Unseen do not change their style. They do not change much actually. Mark still spits politically-infused lyrics down the microphone, the drumming is fast and tight through the traditional 30 minutes. But whereas The Unseen's last album leaned on a more melodic and accessible approach, this LP feels like the band's going back to its roots. "Step Inside... Take Your Life", "No Direction" rely way more on punk speed than pop melodies. The band still copes with the usual melodic song to fill in for a single, "Right Before Your Eyes" that is, but still, that's nothing compared to "You Can Never Go Home" pop sweetness from 2005's "State Of Discontent". So the thing is, maybe they got bored with people calling them sellouts or something, and wanted to go back to a more hardcore stance. But don't worry, the music is still way closer to an angry Rancid than to a toned-down Sick Of It All.

Now, if you don't know this band, if you like punk and hardcore with a melodic edge, then you do not exist. I would strongly recommend this to anyone. Of course, the songs all sound the same and the riffs feel washed-up, but I would get my fist in air screaming along at a gig no doubt (but they would never come to my baguette land).

Download: Right Before Your Eyes, Left For Dead
For the fans of: Rancid, early AFI
Listen: Myspace

Release date 19.06.2007
Hellcat / Epitaph