Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Unisonic
Label: Ear Music Records
Release: 2014
Running time: 54:43
Rating: 4/5
In 2009, members of the Place Vendome project, namely ex-Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske, Pink Cream 69 bassist Dennis Ward and drummer Kosta Zafiriou, who was still drumming for Pink Cream 69 at the time, decided to form a proper band that would be active on the live circuit too. On Dennis Ward’s suggestion, they recruited the seasoned Swiss musician Mandy Meyer (Krokus, ex-Asia, ex-Gotthard) on guitar. Guitarist Kai Hansen only joined the band in 2011. For a workaholic like Kai Hansen, it’s nothing unusual to juggle other musical projects or bands alongside Gamma Ray. Just remember his services in the early days of the power metallers Iron Savior.
Compared to the very promising and high-quality self-titled debut from 2012, the new record "Light Of Dawn" is an upgrade in that the production sounds even more cranked up (louder and more crushing), while the songs are also noticeably darker. Although many would expect a heavy dose of Helloween / Gamma Ray clichés, they’re pushed to the front on the album less often than you’d think! Take the chorus and the excellent "mid-eight" passage of the opener Your Time Has Come, as well as the chorus of the album’s first single For the Kingdom, which had already come out earlier on the EP of the same name.
This time the album’s expressive power is captured in the mid-tempo songs. On these tracks, it’s often just the rhythm section that kicks things off, joined by Kiske, who proves he remains one of the most distinctive voices of the European power metal era and is still a fantastic vocalist even in maturity (Night of the Long Knives). He hasn’t lost a single ounce of vocal power, let alone feeling. His tone is one of a kind and shines with full force on this album once again. The singer shows off his strengths especially in the parts of songs that call for more subtlety, like the verse of When the Deed is Done, or Exeptional. Speaking of the latter, it’s the song the band nailed best out of everything on the new album. In terms of musical value and melodic payoff, it’s simply born to be released as a single. In the mid-tempo songs, the band’s tendency to coax optimal melodicism out of the basic ideas also works much better. It’s precisely the vocal purity and great power that Kiske’s charismatic singing holds on to throughout as he moves from the mid range to the higher and then the highest registers. So the choruses reach their bombastic peak in the mid-tempo songs like the mentioned When The Deed is Done and Exeptional, then in Night of the Long Knives, in the verse of the released single For the Kingdom, in one of the album’s most dramatic songs Find Shelter and in the closer You And I. Not Gonna Take It Anymore (with the line "the walls of Jericho are falling down") also embodies a very strong melodic payoff, where the "symphonic cooing" of the keyboards from guest Vanden Plas keyboardist Günter Werno is an important element in creating a specific atmosphere and boosting the epic bombast this excellent song captures (the opening rhythm unfolds in the arena-school pomp of a Queen-style number).
Mandy Meyer and Kai Hasnen don’t necessarily dive headfirst into the typical power metal picking over riffs in thirds, but mostly let the basic guitar phrases "breathe freely" in the arrangements, which gives Unisonic the occasional outline of classic Judas Priest (Find Shelter). They often split the guitar duels into several parts in the middle eight passages. One of the most successful moments in terms of guitar wizardry is something they pull off in a song like Throne of the Dawn. Either way, the two guitarists make sure, with their sharpness, that it’s impossible to get bored listening to the album. The instrumental middle sections are all masterfully conceived, and the way the two guitar approaches complement each other couldn’t work any better.
Given that three members of Unisonic come from a hard rock background, it’s no surprise that some tracks lean closer to hard rock than power metal. Unisonic can occasionally tap into the style and sound of Hansen’s and Kiske’s parent bands, but the other three, coming from a hard rock background, bring such a concrete dose of ideas to the arrangements that they successfully free "Light of Dawn" from cliché similarities to either Helloween or Gamma Ray. Compared to the otherwise excellent studio debut, the new Unisonic album feels even more stylistically defined, concise in its ideas and focused in its expression. The new album also feels darker, offers an even greater grab of the drama theater it creates, and in the production has a touch more liveliness and crushing, cranked-up punch.
Given how much charisma the lead melodies in the verses and choruses have, it’s clear that experienced musicians and seriously skilled arrangers stand behind them, who know how to slyly slalom past the "cliché cones", so that in "Light of Dawn" we get an album that is, frankly put, "a masterfully repackaged old thing played for new times". Listening to this album, fans of Helloween, Gamma Ray, as well as Place Vendome and Pink Cream 69 will feel very comfortable and right at home.
Line-up
Michael Kiske – vocals
Kai Hansen – guitar, backing vocals
Mandy Meyer – guitar
Dennis Ward – bass, backing vocals
Kosta Zafiriou – drums, percussion
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Günter Werno – keyboards
Production
Dennis Ward
Track list
1. Venite 2.0 (1:30)
2. Your Time Has Come (5:03)
3. Exceptional (5:02)
4. For the Kingdom (4:58)
5. Not Gonna Take Anymore (4:26)
6. Night of the Long Knives (5:02)
7. Find Shelter (5:00)
8. Blood (4:45)
9. When the Deed Is Done (5:06)
10. Throne of the Dawn (4:50)
11. Manhunter ( 3:37)
12. You and I (5:20)
