LP Review: "Into The Catacomb Abyss" by Unearthed Elf

Into The Catacomb Abyss

Think back to 1995ish.

In many ways the world was very different back then, but one thing was similar.

There were solo artists coming out of the woodwork then. Ozzy, Ace Frehley, Dave Grohl had just released a solo album under the moniker of Foo Fighters.

Now, solo acts are most definitely a thing. Some people, myself included, will tell you that Ace Frehley and Ozzy Osbourne have yet to improve upon the body of work they created in their original bands.

As a solo musician, Ozzy succeeds on every possible level. In my critical opinion, it's because he only plays his part and barely writes honestly. The musicians write and play. Ace Frehley, these days, likes to have his fingers all over the tracks.

Unearthed Elf

Neither of those artists have come close to achieving, musically, what Grohl did with the Foo Fighters' eponymous debut.

Save a single guitar solo, Grohl played it all and created a masterwork which, again in my critical opinion, the Foo Fighters have yet to surpass.

When a single person writes every instrument, plays every part, and such, there's always a drop off. Case in point, Frehley cannot play bass guitar nearly as well as Gene Simmons.

So, to be precise, Unearthed Elf is a single human, hopefully to be joined by others on a stage near us very soon. Metal is the hardest genre in which to do this, because if its highly technical and progressive nature.

But there is no drop off.

The vocals are choral and immense. The varieties of delivery keep it fresh. The bass guitar, though not outstanding, thickens up the bottom end. There are even drums, real drums, not programmed drum tracks.

The guitar riffs, tones, and solos, wooboy. But in the end, it's impossible for me to discern what Keith D.'s (the Unearthed Elf himself hopefully not on a shelf) natural instrument is. It would appear that D, excels at all of them equally.

Due to that ability, he was able to create a Progressive Power Black Metalcore mashup album. Let's just call this one heavy metal, because it defies all genre pigeonholing.

When it ends, just push play again. The only thing this reviewer was left wanting was another song.

For my readers' sake, we're told this album is best paired with a Smoked Alaskan Porter.

Release: 10/31/16
Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: DIY
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