Above the Fall of Man – Unearth

Recorded in late 1998 and released to very little recognition the following year, Unearth's Above the Fall of Man EP has all of the crude bluster and raw bravado one might expect of a first studio visit. The group's equal-opportunity mingling of hardcore and '90s death metal may have already been in evidence, but the former still held enough sway that even the most adventurous of tracks ("Shattered by the Sun," "Call to Judgment") came off a little muddled under the weight of pure testosterone, showing only tentative signs of the dynamic arranging acuity that would eventually separate the Boston quintet from the herd. The ingredients are all in there somewhere, however, and even if casual listeners may rather take a pass, serious Unearth fans will definitely enjoy this glimpse into the fast-learning band's very short infancy. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide