Unearth Guitarist Ken Susi on ‘Darkness in the Light’

This week modern metal greats Unearth released 'Darkness in the Light,' their fifth studio album. Produced by Killswitch Engage/Times of Grace guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, the 11-song collection finds the Massachusetts combo delivering the melodic yet intense brand of songwriting they've built their impressive reputation on.

The first song released from 'Darkness in the Light,' a barnburner called 'Eyes of Black,' whet the public's appetite, but Unearth guitarist Ken Susi had his reservations about choosing it as a teaser. "As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't the best thing to go with 'Eyes of Black' as the first song the public heard from our new album," says Susi during a recent conversation with Noisecreep. "My band wanted to push that song out first. Not that I'm not a huge advocate of 'Eyes of Black,' but I thought the song 'Watch it Burn' would have been a better candidate for the teaser track. It has so many of the elements that I love in a song. It's driving, melodic and definitely heavy. I think 'Watch it Burn' is a nice forum for us to do what we do best, " says Susi.

"Don't get me wrong – 'Eyes of Black' is great, but I think it was a safe choice to go with it as the first song people heard off of 'Darkness in the Light.' It's a brutal track and all of that, but it's the kind of thing people would expect from Unearth," proclaims Susi.

Listen to 'Watch it Burn' from Unearth

Packed to the roof with one whiplash-inducing track after the other, 'Darkness in the Light' is the result of a band firing on all cylinders. "The rest of the new album has so much going on. The clean vocals are especially great this time out. I'm also really proud of the guitar stuff on this record. I think the solos are better orchestrated on the album. Adam did a good job working with us on that aspect of the material. But what I'm most excited and proud of on 'Darkness in the Light' is how dynamic is.

"I know it's cliché for bands to talk up their new album as their best, so I won't do that. But what I will say is that if you love our 'The Oncoming Storm' album and our older releases, I think this is just a better version of that. 'Darkness in the Light' is the exact record we should have made for where we are now. The past couple of Unearth albums had some great songs on them, but I didn't think they were truly complete. This new one is," Susi proudly tells Noisecreep.