The Union Underground
Live… One Nation Underground
Portrait / Columbia
Drawing heavily on the rap-infused metal of Rage Against the Machine, The Union Underground’s first album, An Education in Rebellion, pushed gold status and saw them creating a well-deserved stir, earning them a spot on last year’s Ozzfest. The Union Underground comes across as a raucous Korn or a feel-good Deftones, offering aggressive slabs of metal that owe as much to the new glam/industry metal as it does to the nu-metal school, and so this is hugely more entertaining than your regular Limp Bizkit.
Passing the time until their next studio album, this is a six-track live EP that showcases the strength of their material in this setting. If The Union Underground isn’t the subtlest band around, then they definitely know how to work a crowd, as evidenced by the cool audience participation on radio smash “Turn Me On ‘Mr. Deadman’” – easily the best track on here. An unapologetic and in your face approach ensures that the live feel translates surprisingly well to record, and there’s both a rawness and directness that’s rarely heard on these (assumedly) doctored albums.
While they may need to consider broadening their register for their upcoming studio album, this is evidence that on stage, The Union Underground should win over all but the most hostile of crowds.
Columbia Records: http://www.columbiarecords.com
