Groovy, thrashy and deathy. These are three words that come to mind when listening to Roots of Unrest’s release In Memory of Mankind. And it’s a good mix. There are nods to the past, and it is becoming a somewhat winning formula.
I can hear some real potential here and exploration.
The mix jumps though, even within songs, making it difficult to know if this is intentional exploration or an identity crisis. But there is a certain traditional flair to their work, and this coupled with the production value, there is a somewhat familiar feel to this release which will be appealing to many.
On the production though, there is some room between the bass, guitars, voice and drums, but sometimes a tom or a snare will hit in a wrong register and throw the sound off a bit. These imperfections could be a good thing in the future as we move our preferences towards less polished pieces, but I don’t think we are there yet. There is one more point that I’d like to make about this release, and that is the melancholy feel to some of the sections. They are a thing of beauty and could possibly be the best part of what they have produced in this release. It will be interesting to see how these guys grow over their next few releases. Suitable for those who don’t mind bashing their head against the roof of their car by accident when they just need to grab some milk from the shops.
Release Year: 2020
Label: self-released
Category: EP
Country: Germany
Reviewed by Liam Frost-Camilleri
