Unbodied – Unbodied

Here we have Unbodied an unsigned band from Ohio and their self-titled five song EP. Their brief bio states that they incorporate elements of death metal, sludge, thrash, stoner metal and progressive into a sound all of their own. I’ve got to admit, they do mix things up a bit, and I do kind of dig it.

The music is heavy and kind of technical sounding while the vocals are harsh and fairly understandable. They pull off a sludgy-pulling-you-down-into-the-muck sound while at the same time sounding bright and technical. I like that, because sludge alone tends to bore me. I can’t fault them for listing styles they don’t incorporate in one way or another; they’ve thrown them all into a blender and come up with a fairly unique sound (inasmuch as any heavy music with harsh vocals can sound unique.)

I have to admit that I frequently make a judgment about new bands within the first few seconds of hearing the music and vocals together. And in the case of Unbodied my first after-a-few-seconds impression was “I’ve heard this before, oh god is it over yet?” But don’t worry, I feel that way a lot about new music, so I know I have to keep listening and give things a chance to grow on me. And as is often the case, after the first few songs the impression changes, as it did with Unbodied. By the time I hit the third track I was starting to realize this was something different than what I thought it to be, and even started to enjoy it.

Unbodied seem to know what they are about and have themselves in order, and for a seemingly young band I can respect that drive. I like what they’ve got here in this EP and think they have potential to put out some interesting material moving forward. You should check out their Facebook page where you can hear some music and pick up a digital or hard copy of the EP.