“‘Mother Betrayal‘ is an ominous banger heavily laden with the melodic death metal, thrash and metallic hardcore combination that has signified our sound since the beginning. It kicks up the aggression and ferocity beyond previous recordings while also veering into new territories musically, vocally and structurally. ‘Mother Betrayal’ is a warning that we are smashing past multiple ecological tipping points caused by our dependence on fossil fuels that will forever alter life on our planet,” says Trevor Phipps of UNEARTH. “Mother Betrayal” is the second single from the upcoming album The Wretched; The Ruinous, dropping May 5, 2023. UNEARTH’s previous single, title track “The Wretched; The Ruinous” premiered on Sirius XM Liquid Metal, and has spent a monumental three weeks in the number one spot on “The Devil’s Dozen.”
On album number eight, The Wretched; The Ruinous, UNEARTH not merely continues to amp-up their metal meets hardcore intensities, but they also exceed themselves with a record that incorporates elements of classic UNEARTH offerings dating back to 2004’s “breakthrough” The Oncoming Storm, while exploring beyond the recent back-to-basics promise of 2018’s Extinction(s). For UNEARTH’s founding mainstays, Trevor Phipps and guitarist Buz McGrath, it feels like the beginning of a new chapter. “Buz took the entire pandemic to write these songs,” says Trevor. “He pushed himself to get out of his comfort zone and explore what UNEARTH is, both past and present. Buz adding these new elements and killer song structures inspired me to be more diverse vocally. The Wretched; the Ruinous is still UNEARTH, but it’s also the most dynamic record we’ve ever done.”
Teaming again with Extinction(s) producer, Will Putney (Body Count, Thy Art Is Murder), the goal was simple: create the definitive UNEARTH record. From the scathing title track opener to the explosive “Cremation of the Living”, the brooding “Mother Betrayal” to the album’s riff-violent closer, “Theaters of War”, The Wretched; The Ruinous is UNEARTH pulling out all the stops. “There’s certain songs where you can really hear the band’s hardcore roots,” explains Trevor. “The track ‘Dawn of the Militant’ is a true mix of metal and heavy hardcore, that to me define what the term ‘metalcore’ truly is. For the bulk of this record though, the metal, aggression, and technicality are reminiscent of our Watchers of Rule (2014) album. All of the ingredients of UNEARTH are present on these songs, but the band continues to explore new territories as writers and players.”
The Wretched; The Ruinous is a turning point moment for UNEARTH. It’s first album in their canon recorded without guitarist Ken Susi, who mutually parted with the band in 2022. Trevor shares, “It simply came time for Unearth and Ken to take a break from working together. He’ll always be a large part of the story of this band, and we wish him the best on all of his endeavors”
The frontman makes no bones about the arduous writing process for The Wretched; The Ruinous. “Coming out of the pandemic I found myself struggling to find my zone of creativity with writing, but I pushed through, and once I found it things caught fire.” Phipps has never been one to shy away from often scathing social commentary. “Lyrically, it’s a warning shot record,” Trevor continues. “I’ve spoken about the decline of our environment by Mankind’s hand dating back to our first record in 2001, and I’ve continued to write about the environmental crisis throughout our entire career. We are now at a tipping point with Mother Nature and our place on this planet, and I had to devote the entirety of this album to what is happening around us. This album is a collection of stories of what is happening, and what is to come, if we do not make monstrous changes to how we treat our only home.”
“The Wretched; The Ruinous is about the eight billion people on this planet,” echoes the frontman of UNEARTH’s latest state of the world address. “We’ve created a man-made mass extinction event and have been too slow to correct our faults. Extreme weather, drought, famine, disease, erosion of land, culture wars, civil wars, wars for natural resources, and the displacement of billions of people, is all a current reality. This isn’t a future problem; it is a now problem and I take this record to talk about it. As a species we are very quickly turning our once Garden of Eden into our future hellscape.”
“It’s not all devastation and gloom though,” adds Phipps. “On the track ‘Call of Existence’ I talk about how we can turn this around with swift, drastic changes to our emissions and consumption of natural resources. There is a responsible way forward that will benefit all life on our planet, and we have to embrace and act on that responsibility now.”
