UNISONIC — Unisonic (review)

Album · 2012 · Heavy Metal

3/5 · 2012-05-18
RuneWalsh2112

I wasn't anticipating the debut album from the supergroup known as Unisonic merely because I only recently began to appreciate the classic Helloween records and the great team of Kiske/Hansen. The two have had quite a friendly off and on collaborative relationship after Kai Hansen quit Helloween just when the band have made their mark on the metal community of the early '90s. Hansen quickly formed Gamma Ray and continued to perform highly energetic Power Metal music to this day. Michael Kiske has had quite a different career after being fired from Helloween in 1993 and mourning the loss of his long time collaborator Ingo Schwichtenberg in 1995. Kiske pretty much quit the metal music scene all together for nearly 15 years, thus making us lose one of its greatest vocalists!

Luckily all was not lost since Kiske slowly but steadily began to resurface on a few metal albums. Working mostly as a guest star at first, his comeback was met with great enthusiasm from Metal fans all across the world! Finally, after another guest vocal appearance, on Hansen-lead Gamma Ray track "All You Need To Know", the old Helloween collaborators decided to give the music another go by forming Unisonic! As I mentioned previously, I've only recently began to appreciate the impact that Helloween's music had on the metal community of the '80s and the later work of Kai Hansen. It's clear that Hansen's career has been pretty much in status quo for nearly a decade. "No World Order" (2001) was the latest highly fan praised release from Gamma Ray and the band hasn't exactly done anything of that caliber since then. Their latest record "To The Metal!" was pretty much the same high quality Power Metal-by-numbers, which is both a good and/or bad depending on which perspective you have on things. So the formation of a new Kai Hansen project was certainly met with cheers from all the sides of the spectrum. But were the fans prepared for the music they were about to uncover on the Unisonic debut record?

I've heard quite a few comments/remarks about this album before actually giving it a shot. Most people seemed to be on a negative side regarding the band's lacking metal approach, which has instead been substituted by the more traditional Hard Rock sound mixed with hits of AOR. This is certainly true since there are only a handful of metal tracks on this release with the band's title track being the most obvious example of such an occurrence. The rest of the material is still quite enjoyable if you can look past the obvious commercial sound and even cheese on tracks like "Never Too Late" and especially "Never Change Me".

When I try to think of a perfect comparison band for Unisonic then the first name that comes to mind is Asia! Both of the acts are supergroups playing AOR styled music of the '80s, plus there are those instances when Michael Kiske sounds almost like John Wetton! Overall, I'd say that I did find this debut album to be surprisingly enjoyable even despite the obvious clichés. There is almost no Power Metal here so anyone expecting something along the lines of classic Helloween will be disappointed. I say, take it at face value and you'll be pleasantly surprised by the result!

**** star songs: Unisonic (3:26) Souls Alive (5:14) Star Rider (4:17) Renegade (4:39) My Sanctuary (4:16) King For A Day (4:07) We Rise (4:13) No One Ever Sees Me (6:13)

*** star songs: Never Too Late (4:30) I've Tried (4:56) Never Change Me (3:46)