Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Unisonic
Label: Ear Music Records
Release: 2012
Running time: 18:25
Rating: 3.5/5
Well, here’s a new super power metal lineup. Teutonic German roots! It’s built by musicians who are basically to blame for shaping European power metal in the first place. Seasoned old tomcats who come, among other places, out of the “Keeper era Helloween” lineup. That’s Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske, and this is actually their first collaboration in a real band since they split up in the second half of the eighties (Hansen founded Gamma Ray at the end of the eighties)! The rest of the crew is no less interesting. The rhythm section comes from probably the toughest hard rock band ever to emerge on German soil – Pink Cream 69! American bassist Dennis Ward, who is also the producer of this EP, and drummer Kosta Zafiriou, who happens to be the manager of Helloween. So the fact that Michael Kiske and Michael Weikath haven’t spoken for years doesn’t get in the way of other musicians who are closely tied to today’s Helloween one way or another teaming up with Michael Kiske. The fifth member is the excellent Swiss guitarist Mandy Meyer, a man who got his edge in the past with Swiss hard rock heroes Krokus and Gotthard, and left his biggest mark as the guitarist of Asia on the album “Astra” (1985). The band was formed back in 2009 as a quartet, and last year it took Kai Hansen on board too and grew into a quintet. Meyer-Hansen, a dream guitar combination, in other words.
What this little record delivers is fairly much what you’d expect. The first track to introduce the band is simply called Unisonic. After the band, that is. In it the band lays out the roots its musicians grew up on. In the verse you can’t get past the comparisons to Deep Purple. The occasional way the lines are phrased, and the lines themselves, don’t hide their leaning on the verses of Stormbringer and Speed King. The bridge then develops in the true manner of melodic playing in the vein of classic Helloween, as well as Gamma Ray, until the simple but anthemically commanding chorus kicks in! Souls Alive follows a similar course of events, only it’s free of Deep Purple associations, and the chorus will go down well especially with all fans of Gamma Ray, Avantasia and Edguy, the latter two of course thanks to the similarity of Kiske’s vocals to those of Tobias Sammet (Edguy).
The songs are juicily seasoned with excellent soloing, and Meyer and Hansen of course also go for building up atmosphere, as they upgrade the riffs with the typical traits of German power metal, which the ornamental harmonies in thirds “stacked” on top of the riffs make no attempt to hide. As far as production goes, we can only judge the tracks Souls Alive and Unisonic, since My Sanctuary and I Want Out (a Helloween cover) are live versions. If you’ve got Dennis Ward on the team, no worries. The sound is wound-up and lively, typically “Ward-style”, and above all the whole point is driven home by the bass leg, which tears away on equal terms with the glowing Teutonic character of both guitars. The added I Want Out is a good indicator of the state of Michael Kiske’s voice, though. The man holds up well even in the highest registers. Just like in the eighties.
Unisonic are a band that fills the Helloween “Keeper era” niche today. Of course, they’re far from being the same band, but with Kiske and Hansen in the lineup, Unisonic now also have every legitimate right to play the first three Helloween albums live. It’s a welcome band-aid for everyone who is disappointedly waiting these days for Helloween to maybe wake up from their creative and live apathy. Of course it’s still a tad too early to paint the whole picture based on just three original songs from the EP, but “Ignition” is nevertheless a good indicator of what awaits us in March 2012. And that is the band’s studio debut.
Lineup
Michael Kiske – vocals
Kai Hansen – guitar
Mandy Meyer – guitar
Dennis Ward – bass
Kosta Zafiriou – drums
Production
Dennis Ward
Track list
01. Unisonic (03:25)
02. My Sanctuary (04:16)
03. Souls Alive (05:14)
04. I Want Out (05:32)
