UNBOUNDED TERROR- Something Is Rotten In Humanity

RELEASE YEAR: 2025

BAND URL: www.unboundedterror.com

The vibrant Spanish Palma Mallorca scene connected to guitarist/bassist Vicente Payá released three albums recently: Golgotha’s Spreading The Wings Of Hope²⁰²⁴ , Holycide’s Towards Idiocracy²⁰²⁴ and, just in, the death metallers’ Unbounded Terror’s 4th full length, Something Is Rotten In Humanity²⁰²⁵, out since April 1st (April 11th on vinyl) via Dave Rotten’s Xtreem Music, and, I regretfully submit that, while I loved its immediate predecessor, Echoes Of Despair²⁰²² , this one leaves me quite disappointed, with not as much melody, twists and turns, and, most sadly, not enough variation, although, technically it’s a good album decently produced (drums could be higher) and mixed by Davide Billia (Beheaded, Hour Of Penance) in his own MK2 Studios in Italy, another release the Spaniards don’t have to be ashamed of. Per my disappointment, the closest comparison I can make is how the descent from Obituary’s fantastic Cause Of Death¹⁹⁹⁰ felt into the comparatively uninspired The End Complete¹⁹⁹² (with the single exception of the phenomenal title track) or Suffocation’s excellent Pinnacle Of Bedlam²⁰¹³ slide down to the ho-hum …of The Dark Light²⁰¹⁷ , and the fact that the cover of Something Is Rotten In Humanity (which is named almost exactly like the last track on Echoes “Something Is Rotting In Humanity”) is thematically similar to The End Complete while coloristically to …Of The Dark Light further encourages both comparisons.

On the subject of melody, we should expect Unbounded Terror to be very confident with it since the perfect title track from the compilation Infernal Judgment²⁰²¹ released after the 1st post-reunion and 2nd overall, album Faith In Chaos²⁰²⁰, which featured a new vocalist, Golgotha’s Andrew Spinosa (2019-bass, vocals) in place of the founding throat, Antonio “Toni” Pereida (guitars, lead vocals-1993), who, along with Vicente Javier Payá Galindo (guitars), José Rosa (bass-1993) and Esteban (drums-1993), had founded Unbounded Terror in 1991 out of the ashes of Putrefact Monstruosity (1990-1991) debuting first with Sarcastic Souls¹⁹⁹¹ demo and then Nest Of Affliction¹⁹⁹² (on Drowned Productions) only to disband in 1993 following the release of two demos: Growing On Sorrow¹⁹⁹² and Through The Dark Desperation (Evil Laughs Stronger)¹⁹⁹³. The excellent 3rd full length, Echoes Of Despair was easily their best recording to date and expectations were high, especially in light of some lineup changes: Juan Mateu (2019-guitars-2022) left replaced by Holycide’s guitarist Ancor Ramírez Santana (2023-guitars), and then one of two scenarios played out: either Jaume Porta (2019-drums) had left before the recording of the 4th album and Engelbert Rodas recorded Something Is Rotten In Humanity as a session guitarist or Porta recorded the album and left replaced by Rodas, in any case, the latter was made an official member after the recording, according to the label promo bio the wording of which also makes the first of the two scenarios more likely to have happened.

So all that fresh potent blood yet there is, comparatively precious little melody on Something Is Rotten In Humanity, comparatively to the predecessor, almost as if they shunned it. In that sense, the album doesn’t get interesting until 3rd track (never a good thing on a 9 track album), “Demons In Your Mind” driven by melodic groove recalling Immolation’s underrated Harnessing Ruin²⁰⁰⁵ that turns Gothic¹⁹⁹¹ Paradise Lost with a fantastic solo that Greg Macintosh would be tempted to buy from Ancor Santana for the Brits’ new album, and the melodic flair even increases on the track, “Reviving”, with a harmonious atmospheric intro a’la early Machine Head giving way to groove death metal that finally feels justified to usher in more melody in different configurations and at various, expertly crafted speeds and with frantic leads, definitely something Immolation wouldn’t scorn, especially lately, my favorite song on the album. The closing instrumental “The Evil Cause” is both excellent and frustrating, the former reason, because it has all the hooks, variety and melody the rest of the album lacks, and the latter…because it has all the hooks, variety and melody the rest of the album lacks…and that would be just about all there is outstanding about Unbounded Terror’s 4th album.

Of course, there are little leads (Destiny Of Evil) and cool Cannibal Corpsey riffs with melodic background even repeated for emphasis and acidic vocals different from the rest (The Disappointment) melodic moments which open a song, transition and end it (Divine Virtue) and melodic solos that boggle the mind in relation to how uninteresting the songwriting can be on the same (Believing Again) but they only serve to deepen the frustration. I mean I should not sit through 3 minutes of little to not varied palm muted Deceptionist grooves just to be rewarded with a fantastic lead that feels like a spray from a garden hose in the middle of a desert, should I? And the fact that Echoes was almost 10 minutes longer speaks volumes to me I am not willing to elaborate on at this time. On top of it all, the song titles suggest very interesting lyrics I am sadly not privy to, thereby futher deepening my sadness.

Caballeros, you can both do better and have done, so I’m looking forward to your next release.