Unseen Faith is a Christian Danish metalcore/deathcore band with a lot of djent influences. After their last release, the “Yokebreaker” EP in 2015, they are back with their sophomore debut album “Waver”. If this debut album is just as heavy as their EP, then we are in for a treat…
Right from the beginning with the first track ‘Lost World’ the album blasts through my headphones with real fury and even some middle eastern melodies. Blastbeats and screams are present and alternated with more djent-like parts.
‘Friend Of The Devil’ has a beginning that is menacing and sets a tone that makes you thirsty for more and expectant when the breakdown will hit. This album is packed with intricate compositions. Music like this has a tendency to have a overload of breakdowns and just some parts to glue them together. This is not the case with this album from Unseen Faith, breakdowns are only present where they serve the song. And yes, every song has it’s breakdowns. Some tracks also have clean vocals but with a raw edge, for example in the song ‘Dystopia’. And the sound of the bassguitar at the beginning of the fourth track ‘The Sceptic’ will silence all the people who are sceptic about the part of the bassplayer. (Did you notice what I did there?) And yes, there is the first pig squeal, albeit in a subtle way. Subtle and deathcore….?!??
Fifth track ‘Intermission’is exactly that, an instrumental break from all the heaviness but not too sweet. Followed by ‘(Don’t) Fear’ which also begins with a clean guitar part but only to quickly pick up with the heaviness where they left. And there are the pig squeals again but not too much.
In ‘S.O.S.’ before the breakdown hits there is a part that I only can describe as black metal; fast furious , blastbeats and high pitched screams and then interspersed with a choir that sounds so dark that it serves the song in a way that just fits like a glove. And the groove in ‘Tree’, again, is breathtaking. This track is one of the highlights for me, check out the youtube video at the end of the review and judge for yourself. Just listen to all the elements; guitar, drums, bass and vocals (screams and cleans) stacked on top of each other make this a song full of passion.
And then ‘Interlude’ again an interlude to take a short instrumental breath to get you ready for the tenth and last track ‘Anchor Me’ which begins with some sort of heavy spoken word. It is a menacing combination of clean guitars with heavy guitars and screams that sound really dark and a choir that sounds like a choir of monks.
I already liked the EP “Yokebreaker” but I feel that Unseen Faith has gone a step further with “Waver”, the sound and production and compositions have matured a bit more. Highly recommended if you are into this kind of music.
Rating: 8.5/10
Written by: René Woning
Tracklist:
1. Lost World
2. Friend of The Devil
3. Dystopia
4. The Sceptic
5. Intermission
6. (Don’t) Fear
7. S.O.S.
8. Tree
9. Interlude
10. Anchor Me
Band members:
Alexander Eriksen – Vocals
Jakob Langvad – Guitar
Asbjørn Brokhøj – Guitar
Klaus Schmidt – Drums
Christian Jensen – Bass
Discography:
“Yokebreaker” 2015 (review)
“Waver” 2017
Record label: Prime Collective, August 2017
Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox
Norway: Nordic Mission
Weblinks: Facebook / Spotify / Instagram / iTunes / Bandcamp
Video for ‘Tree’
Video for ‘Dystopia’