Unkind - Pelon Juuret | Review

Two years after their debut record for Relapse ‘Harhakuvat’, Finland’s Unkind return with another vicious slab of crust-infused d-beat hardcore, which sounds darker, harsher and more aggressive than everything the Finns have ever written.

Yet, although consistently powerful and aggressive, the music contained within also transcends the boundaries imposed by a rigid style such as crust/d-beat hardcore as the band make several deviations from the left hand path to spice up their furious assault. For every d-beat, frenetic moment, there is an equally intense yet more atmospheric musical passage which gives the songs a sinister edge and sounds genuinely unsettling. Those who have heard Unkind’s work, especially their previous album ‘Harhakuvat’, will know exactly what to expect from ‘Pelon Juuret’. Those who haven’t, please imagine if Mogwai had been fed with a solid diet of Discharge and Amebix and then decided to make a crust/hardcore album, or try to imagine a more visceral and violent Envy, multiply that by ten and you have Unkind.

The title theme, which means “roots of fear”, kicks things off with a raging fury, unleashing savage riffs along with a wrenching, frenetic drumming with the right amount of force to inflict some serious damage. Following track, “Vihan Lapset”, continues in similar fashion, but it’s on “Valtakunta” that things start to get more interesting with Unkind balancing the brutal chaos with some disquieting, engaging melodies. The album ends with the surprising “Saattokoti”, nearly five minutes of ambient sounds rounded with some fascinating banjo melodies that prove that Unkind unlike a good portion of their peers in the netherworld of crust/d-beat hardcore are still pushing ahead to new, stranger places.

Band info: www.facebook.com/UnkindHardcore
Label info: www.relapse.com