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| There are bands out there that will twist your brain from the inside out with their musical styles, at first you don´t know what to think if it´s bad or good, if you hate it or like it. But then you start to appreciate their unique sound and open your mind to this musical soup. This is the case with Montreal based art metal band Unexpect which is nothing less than a metal laboratory mixing elements of black metal, jazz, opera, folk, progrock and circus music. They call themselves avant-arde experimental progmetal which is a suitable description, they´re like the Moulin Rouge of metal where in some moments you could say Jethro Tull meets Opeth and in other moments, Frank Zappa conducting Gentle Giant with John Petrucci on guitar. Unexpect features a 9 stringed bassplayer, a keyboard player, a violinist, 2 guitarist, a drummer and a singin contemporary dancer. "Fables of the sleepless empire" is their 4th album and it´s a complex piece of work but very interesting. The 2 first tracks are the best ones here, real artsy and cool. |
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Location:Germany
Discography:Phosphor (2000),Das 2. Gebot (2003),Schutzengel EP (2003),Zelluloid (2004),Freiheit EP (2004),Moderne Zeiten (2005)
Bandmembers:Der Graf - Vocals/Instrumentation
Influences:Depeche Mode,Front 242,Nine Inch Nails
Will appeal to fans of:Rammstein,Oomph,Megaherz
Album tracks Total length:1,01,25
1.Das uhrwerk (1,13)
2.Luftschiff (6,06)
3.Ich will alles (3,50)
4.Goldene zeiten (4,19)
5.Helden (4,21)
6.Astronaut (4,19)
7.Phoenix (3,38)
8.Lass uns liebe machen (4,14)
9.Horizont (5,16)
10.Sonnenaufgang (4,14)
11.Gelobtes land (4,44)
12.Menschenherz (4,52)
13.Mein stern (5,27)
14.Moderne zeiten (4,48)
Kaj?s final words:The industrial rock euphoria of 2006 belongs to the German electro machine Unheilig,the new album "Moderne zeiten" is a milestone in the chapters of industrial music.
Composed and performed by Der graf,he takes the listener below surface in what could be the modern soundtrack to "Das boot" - suggestive thriller metal is a good description of Unheilig?s futuristic synth parade!
Get floored by heavyweight tracks like "Ich will alles" and "Horizont".......and those are just a small part of the majestic goods that Der Graf delivers on this album.
MIGHTY! |
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| Atlanta based band Unhindered is a modern pop/rock band and are the first signing of the new label EE-Taow Records. The band’s music reminds me a lot of bands like Delirious?, MercyMe and especially Hillsong United. This album will definitely finds it way to a youthful worship audience. The performance of the band is good and the songs are all easy accessible. The only thing that is a bit disappointing about this album is that it lacks some innovation. We have heard this many times before. For fans of the above mentioned bands it will be no problem though, they will just have another enjoyable album to listen too. So my conclusion is that it’s a good album, but I hope they will be more original on the next one. They have the potential, so we will find out in the future. |
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Kristoffer Lagerstrom - Vocals/Keyboards and Mikael Klevengard - Guitars are the men behind the new Swedish AOR band Union Mac.
Frontiers turned them down because they weren?t famous enough but in this case, quality comes before quantity and ex.Spin Gallery singer Kristoffer knows exactly how to pull off some serious good AOR.
U.K label Escape Music signed them and now their debut "Lost in attraction" will be out, any fan of Scandinavian AOR like Skagarack and Fate or early Zeno will be more than pleased to hear this album.
The vocal performance from Kristoffer leaves me with nothing to complain on and I fancy their synthbass lines a lot, this album is well produced and the songs might be dated to the 80?s decade but I won?t mind as long as they?re done with heart and soul.
A strong piece of work! |
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Union Square is a Swedish band that became famous by winning two major talent shows in Scandinavia, Bandit Unsigned and MTV Nordic Unsigned. Their formula for success is their energetic rock with hints of punk, a sound that resembles Millencolin on their latest efforts. Other bands that I can find as reference are The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Neverstore.
The album starts out with hard-hitting song Sirens On which is an ok song although I like the second track better, that one has a chorus that really sticks. Third out is Deceit which is an energetic song with some heavy Millencolin influences. The album goes on in the same style and I actually find myself dozing off here and there, sometimes I never notice that the song changes. Breakout has a gang style chorus that is nice but I think that could have varied the songs a bit more to get a more dynamic whole. House of Cards and Goodbye are my favorite songs here along with already mentioned A Sudden Change…
To sum things up, this a good debut album and I believe that with more experience this band will be as big as fellow Swedes Millencolin. If you like their albums Pennybrigde Pioneers you should check this out. I’m looking forward to follow this band in the future. This is a nice start to what I think will be a brilliant career! |
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United Nations is the new secret supergroup that features members of Thursday, GlassjAw and Converge. They refer to their musical genre as "emo-power-violence" and from the debut on Eyeball Records is exactly what you will get, but don’t call them grindcore. So what’s the big secret? According to their official bio, “United Nations is a New York-based avant-garbage band that DEFINITELY doesn´t include members of Thursday, GlassjAw and Converge. Them? Never.”
Well, the band definitely does include those members. The band was started by Daryl Palumbo, vocalist of GlassjAw and Head Automatica, and Geoff Rickly, the vocalist/lyricist of the band Thursday. Other artists involved in the project include Ben Koller, drummer for Converge; Christopher "Chree" Conger, former drummer of The Number 12 Looks Like You; bassist Eric Cooper of Made Out of Babies; and Jonah Bayer of The Lovekill. However, due to contract obligations, the official lineup isn´t exactly known since the promo picture of the band is them in Ronald Reagan masks, with the exception of Rickly and Palumbo, which we know for sure are in the band under those masks.
The band will release this self-titled debut on September 9, 2008 through Eyeball Records. You will see a side of Rickley and Palumbo that you have never seen before. Let me be the first to tell you this collection of songs will make you want to tear your own hair out and/or gouge your eyes. This is music is powerful, extreme and brutal to be frank. I guess it would be the closest thing to early GlassjAw but more extreme and even more brutal. Don’t expect too much melody out of this album as there are hints both singers its mainly a fierce screamo fest with blistering guitar attack and exhilarating drumming. I honestly think they could have used their melodic talents to make a gigantic supergroup but as a side project this is what were going to have to take. I’m still sticking with their respective bands. It is good to see Palumbo with his craziness again, I may add. He will definitely please old GlassjAw fans with this one and prove that he didn’t sell out in Head Automatica (even though I like them too .. shhh!) For Fans of GlassjAw, Thursday, and Underoath, Norma Jean and Everytime I Die. |
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Wow, this is an amazing album from 2005 from Australian newcomers Unitopia.
I love how they blend different styles like hi-tech pop, progressive rock, fusion and westcoast rock.
Many names pops up in my head while listening to "More than a dream" such as Alan Parsons Project, Rupert Hine, Peter Gabriel, Mike and The Mechanix, Saga and Kerry Livgren?s A.D.
The production is outstanding and the songs are super strong all through the album, they are currently working on a follow up to this lovely album so keep an eye on this band.
Unitopia are: Mark Trueack - Vocals, Sean Timms - Keyboards/Vocals, Matt Williams - Guitar/Vocals, Shireen Khemlani - Bass/Vocals, Monty Ruggiero - Drums, Mike Stewart - Saxophone/Flute and Tim Irrgang - percussion.
Thanks to Tonnie the walker for sharing this one with me. |
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| Wanna discover a new thrilling progressive rock band? Well, you simply can´t go wrong if you choose it to be Australian act UNITOPIA. This 6-piece offers their own solution within progressive rock, with escapades in neo-prog, prog-metal as well as throwing in some fusion sounding elements. It would be easy to recommend this double-CD to anyone who loves IQ, SPOCK´S BEARD, PALLAS and GENESIS. However, I´d say the broadwidth of this excellent band is even wider than any of the above mentioned bands! The long-distance track "The Garden" itself contains all you need. Soft progressive rock with lots of air is followed by a sudden moments of almost DREAM THEATER´s heaviness and energy. And when you think you get the picture, it suddenly sounds like jazz/fusion for a while... To me, this is one of the coolest surprises on the progressive rock scene in 2008. And man, they surely give the buyer a lot of music! 2 discs containing in total 1 hour and 40 minutes of music ain´t bad. Not a single poor song either. Get this one now! |
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It?s always a pleasure to discover good new acts in the numetal genre when most new bands these times (in my opinion) are rather uninteresting to listen to.
The best numetal releases have already been made but once in a while a new great album comes along that shines a little light over this genre and the new album by UNJUST from San Fransisco is such an uplifting story.
They have 2 independent albums behind themselves and now signed to Kool Arrow for the 3rd and new "Glow" which is a very strong album in the footsteps of Deftones,Faith no more and Lost Prophets.
Alternative,progressive numetal with some EMO vibes over it makes Unjust?s songs real interesting to get into.
It doesn?t take long before you know that this is a very cool numetal album you have layed your hands on,the track "Throwin pennies" shows the way of what?s to come in the world of emotional rock and then on the following track "Way out"-Unjust rocks so hard with melody......I totally surrender to their magnificent sound.
If you want something more than your ordinary numetal!Feel the *GLOW* with Unjust |
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Unjust formed in the San Fransisco Bay Area in the late 90´s and quickly created a sound of numetal and Bay Area Metal, "To lose a name" is their 4th album and the first in 3 years since "Glow" in 2004.
But this time, the numetal tendencies are no way to be heard and instead they have taken a slightly more progressive direction with elements of emo and hardcore.
Imagine a mix of Blindside, Muse and The Revolution Smile and we´re pretty close to the sound of Unjust 2008.
Perhaps the Muse factor is the strongest one shining of the 3 bands I compared them with.
Fans of Thrice and Story of the year should also check out this album.
Highlights:"The Cloud Collectors", "Its not enough", "Do you really like" |
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From Austin,Texas comes this hyped numetal gang on
Madonna?s record label Maverick.
Unloco did an album back in 2001 called "Healing"
which didn?t get them the response they hoped for and
singer Joey Duenas had some throat problem so the band
couldn?t go through with the tour either,a real bad
year in the band?s point of view.
But now their back with a real good album titled
"Becoming I" and the quartet also rocks hard on the
tour with Disturbed,Chevelle and Taproot.
The music is not super but overall a nice piece of
work,this would appeal to fans of Staind and similar
bands.......not very hard but close so to speak.
Joey?s voice can seem a bit monotone in songs like
"Watching me slip" and the title track "Becoming I" which has
some Metallica vibes in a boring way.
But in another way he sings melodic in the tunes
"Neurotic"(lalala love it),"Hands and knees"(one of
the best here) and "Crashing"(echoes out HIT).
When Unloco is hard,they are very hard speaking of
the KORN sounding "Bruises"(it brings out the animal
in you).
There are other albums in this genre I?d rather
recommend but if you?re thinking of buying it,you
won?t be dissapointed either. |
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I guess this EP from the acoustic trio Unsed is the heaviest form of rock you can achieve without using electric Guitars,they have a powerful sound somewhere between Metallica?s ballads and postgrunge tendencies a la Staind.
This style will hold for a 5 song EP but I?m not sure that it would be just as enjoyable on a full length album,Joe Heilman has a typical grunge sounding voice and in my opinion - it can a bit monotone after a while.
The first track "Bloom" is the best song on this solid effort,they wont write history with this EP but Unsed sure can be proud over it.......good work! |
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Unset has opened for Re:Ignition,Adema and Mower etc, they play traditional numetal that really won?t get them anywhere in the music business except for a loyal local fan base around their hometown San Diego.
This is a 4 song demo EP available at cdbaby, you know the recipe - agressive riffs, growls and melodic choruses - good stuff without standing out.
There?s a strong chorus on the opening track "The wait is over" which the other 3 songs cannot match, however they managed to create a powerful sound that is so important in this genre. |
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Formed in Dallas by the two Christian brothers David (Guitar,Vocals) and Jared Galligan (Bass), Unshaken is walking in the same footsteps as Skillet with lots of loops, cool synthesizers and industrial influenced rock.
Just looking at the songs, this is a real good modern electronic rock album but I?m afraid the drum sound is too thin and the music only feels light to listen to and when they rock the way Unshaken does, there should be power in it!
The track "Superhero" gets into the head like a fast train, the soft verse on "Tears" breaks into a wall of massive guitars on the chorus and I surrender to this mighty song, strong indeed.
When Skillet have lost their style, Unshaken feels like a good subsitute of this genre but give these guys a great producer next time so we can feel the drums roar.
If they take it up to another level soundwise, Unshaken will be a band to reckon with. |
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If you want a dose of luxury pop/rock Flicker (eleventyseven , Flatfoot 56 , Pillar) recording artist Until June is the perfect choice for you. With sweet, melodic and also romantic melodies the band delivers ten pop pearls that is hard to resist even for me that normally wants a lot more guitars. And that leads to the only negative thing that I can think of. The album is to short, we “only” got ten songs and half of them are under three minutes. They could have had like 12 tunes or something, butt it’s a lot better with 30 minutes of great music with no fillers than a bunch of extra tunes that would have taken down the overall opinion.
So if you want some semi atmospheric “feel good” pop/rock Until June is without a doubt the best record to buy at the moment! |
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Did you know that?
Martin Stenmarck loves to listen to P.O.D, Nickelback, The Calling, U2, Backyard Babies, Coldplay and Hellacopters
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latest reviews
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