Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Sweet & Lynch
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2017
Running time: 50:25
Rating: 4.5/5
It’s incredible how well these two workaholics, both highly esteemed and universally respected veterans of the global hard rock, metal and melodic rock scene, get along and click with each other. Especially considering that the musical backgrounds of Dokken, Lynch Mob, KXM and Stryper (Stryper? Yes, you read that right) are stylistically and sonically worlds apart. George Lynch and Michael Sweet. At first thought, an incompatible combination, yet it works brilliantly, in total defiance of that. Especially in its own distinctive way. Both in the playing and in the songwriting. So, a little under three years after the debut »Only To Rise« (2015), they’ve delivered its follow-up, the no less excellent »Unified«.
What’s amazing is that, with their packed schedules, they can still crank out an album of this quality in such a short time. Both of them are real factories of great musical ideas and creative inspiration that just never runs dry. Sweet and Lynch are constantly surrounded by other projects, with their main bands, and Sweet records his own solo albums too. Yet both still find enough time (and there really isn’t much of it) to keep their joint »Sweet & Lynch« project alive. Thank goodness. Because »Unified«, just like the studio debut »Only To Rise«, is another winning chapter in their extremely prolific and long musical careers.
Just like »Only To Rise«, »Unified« is a superb cross-section of both musicians’ backgrounds. Their musical cores, their artistic essences. Michael Sweet is a generator of outstanding musicality, of hypnotic listenability that grabs you from the first spin. Instantly. On this album too, the songs are soaked in a sense of anthemic grandeur, in cleverly crafted chorus melodies where the atmospheric crescendo of each track usually lives. That’s a staple of Stryper albums, as well as of Sweet’s solo records. Sweet has dressed all these vocal lines with backing choirs of (his own) vocal harmonies, which of course come straight from the arranging recipe of Stryper’s music. And it’s astonishing with how much power and confidence Michael Sweet, at his age, carries his full vocal might from register to register, still handling the extremely high ranges with feather-light ease.
On the other side stands George Lynch! A guitar grandmaster and, for many, the model of perfect command of the six-string bible, he delivers a lively, fat, thick sound into a new rich arsenal of varied guitar phrases and motifs. In the mid-eight sections, the man blows us away once again with his unique technique, marked by incredible speed, control, and all the delicate, ornamental little details that, in their filigree and inventive fine mechanics, only Lynch’s guitar playing captures. Where do all those subtle pull-offs come from, sneaking in among the note combinations inside the soloing wizardry? In terms of their placement and the very way Lynch slips those moments into his solo adventures. George remains a true guitar gem!
What’s incredible is that, with all the quirks of both musicians, they’re also constantly opening up, through the arrangements, a hugely creative and expressive space where both contributions are fully lit up, neither overshadowing the other nor “suppressing” each other. That’s why »Unified« is such a dynamic, free-flowing record. It hits hard with a remarkable mix of musicality and teasing playfulness, constantly shifting from concisely defined phrases into technical complexity and even hints of experimental playing. »Unified« once again delivers a top-class spectrum of varied compositions that, at their core, belong to the familiar recipe laid down on »Only to Rise«. Still, you can feel that the new album »Unified« is a touch bolder and more provocative in testing the collision of the incompatible, and it passes that test with flying colors. The sonic liveliness and the feel of a live show in the studio are guaranteed by the brilliant rhythm section, handled by two more top-tier musicians, namely Brian Tichy (Foreigner, ex-Whitesnake, ex-The Dead Daisies,…) and bassist James Lomenzo (Black Label Society, ex-White Lion, ex-Megadeth)
Like I said. The fusion of two musical worlds, that is, George Lynch and Michael Sweet, delivers a fresh, special hard rock album that leans toward heavy metal as well as melodic rock, or AOR. A new top-notch chapter and one of the best albums in its genre this year!
Sweet And Lynch – Walk (official video):
Lineup
Michael Sweet – vocals, guitar
George Lynch – guitar
James Lomenzo – bass
Brian Tichy – drums
Production
Michael Sweet
Tracklist
- Promised Land
- Walk
- Afterlife
- Make Your Mark
- Tried & True
- Unified
- Find Your Way
- Heart Of Fire
- Bridge Of Broken Lies
- Better Man
- Live To Die
