Imposition of Faith

Despite featuring several former members of Purgatory and Iced Earth, Unearthed’s sole studio album doesn’t have much in common with anything that Jon Schaffer would’ve put together. It honestly reminds me more of a cross between Morbid Angel and Agent Steel with blasting drums, labyrinthine riffs, melodic guitar leads, and doomy breakdowns all united by a doomsday conspiracy aesthetic. It must be a Florida thing…

This combination of influences makes for a pretty varied album despite clocking in at less than a half hour. While the title track and “Rise of Dissension” set up a rather imposing atmosphere, the intricate Maiden-style gallops on “Imminent Demise” result in the first half’s most noteworthy track. From there, I can dig the doomy intro on “No Tomorrow” as well as the more overt death metal influence on “Serpentine;” I swear the latter’s drums and riff work wouldn’t have been out of place on something like Covenant.

But for all the different stuff going on, Imposition of Faith is a rather disjointed listen. While the songs are unified in their apocalyptic messages and the instrumentation is serviceable, there’s not much of an individual identity at hand in terms of the actual writing or musicianship. It may come down to the vocals needing some extra power as the cleans have a plain, workman quality and the death grunts are too supplementary to do anything that exceptional. Part of me wonders what this album would’ve sounded like if Gene Adam had stuck around to record it…

Overall, Unearthed’s sole album offers promise of a unique style that is ultimately marred by a faulty delivery. This fusion of doom, death, and classic metal is fascinating, especially if one comes in expecting an all-out Iced Earth clone, but the songs are rather underdeveloped, and the performances don’t do much to stand out. Considering how this’ll likely only be of interest to diehard Iced Earth fans, it’s a shame that it didn’t get a chance to be something more.

Highlights:
“Imminent Demise”
“No Tomorrow”
“Serpentine”