2012 CD Reviews - Unisonic - S/T

Unisonic
S/T
Armoury Records - 2012
http://www.unisonic.de

Two former members of the German power metal band Helloween, singer Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen, have reunited to form a new band in Unisonic.

I initially became aware of this new group when I saw a video clip of the band performing the Helloween classic "Future World" live in Japan. I was stoked to see that Kiske sounded so good. While he has been active in various projects (SupaRed, Place Vendome, Revolution Renaissance etc), he's not been actively touring for quite a while.

The album reflects both the metal aspect that fans have been clamoring to hear from Kiske, but other material is more of a straight forward rock and roll type of style. For the most part, it all works.

The band, when called upon to shred, is fantastic. They also slow the pace with equal aplomb.

The album opens with the title track "Unisonic" that serves as a kind of introduction to the band. It rocks from beginning to end with the twin guitars of Kai Hansen and Mandy Meyer. The more operatic vocals from Kiske are in evidence here.

While not quite as fast, the still uptempo "Souls Alive" changes to a slightly lower vocal register for Kiske and the lyrics have some real depth to them.

I mentioned a more rock and roll vibe to some of the tracks. "Never Too Late" is a good example of this. The song starts out with a paced tempo but picks up the pace over the course of the song. The song "Never Change Me" does the same thing and the vocals start out low until the chorus when Kiske lets his voice soar to the heavens again.

I didn't care for "King For A Day" or "I've Tried". They were just mediocre songs in my book.

The band took a different tack towards the power ballad. They crafted a song that left out the love song cliche and instead took it much deeper in "No One Ever Sees Me". I was pretty blown away by how good this song turned out.

The fast paced "We Rise" is another stand out song with pure power ripping through the speakers.

The band's live cover of another Helloween classic "I Want Out", turned out well as the album closer. Selfishly, I would've preferred the "Future World" live cut to be included as an audio track but it was nice to have any live cut on the disc.

I've been a fan of Kiske's work with Helloween for a long time and while I've checked out some of his other projects and solo work, this type of band enviornment is where I think he shines best. The entire band has done an admirable job of setting the stage for what I can only hope is more albums to come.

GRADE: B PLUS