Unisonic - For the Kingdom

(CD EP Review)

***

The EP that should have been a double A-Side single!!!

'For the Kingdom' is the new EP from Euro Rock band Unisonic and was produced by Dennis Ward. Unisonic like fellow tour mates Edguy they are very interesting and bring something new to the Rock genre. Coming out of Germany they are a Heavy Metal / Hard Rock supergroup founded in 2009 by former Helloween singer Michael Kiske alongside Dennis Ward and Kosta Zafiriou from Pink Cream 69, Mandy Meyers formerly in Asia and Gotthard was soon added to the line-up as well as Gamma Ray leader and Halloween founder Kai Hansen in 2011. The EP is made of two new recordings 'For the Kingdom' and 'You come Undone' along with four live tracks which have not previously been released. The live tracks were recorded at the Masters of Rock festival in Czech Republic in 2012 and make this EP the second the band has released and the first new material since their debut self titled album two years ago in 2012.

Producing a blend of Rock and Symphonic Metal and amazing guitar work provided by Mandy Meyer (Asia / Gotthard) and Kai Hansen (Halloween) which can be heard straight away on the EP's title track 'For the Kingdom' which almost see's them have a harmonic Avenged Sevenfold guitar battle half way through. The lead vocals by Michael Kiske are very strong and resemble Edguy singer Tobias Sammet in places and other great singers in the Euro Metal genre like Joey Tempest if he was a little more Operatic and of course that Halloween touch.

Second 'You come Undone' is a great up tempo number with lots of high parts in it where Michael can really show of his craft and again the guitar work is really intricate and has loads of shredding parts and some squeeling bits too. I think the guitar and the vocals are really outstanding with this band and fans of bands like Kamelot, Nightwish, Firewind and Edguy would really love this band. I also think they would have some appeal with fans of Judas Priest, Halloween or even Iron Maiden. They start of the live segment of the EP with a long intro for the bands title track 'Unisonic' which launches with a scream of guitars and almost sounds like a start of an old Iron Maiden song.

The sound of the live tracks is ok but could be better, it's a little muffled in places and I don't think it shows off the band to their best potential. It just sounds like screeching guitars and on the second live track 'Never too Late' the vocals are not as stand out as the studio recorded tracks on the EP. It's not that the live tracks are bad it's just I would have released this as a double A-Side single rather than an EP, because 'Never too Late' falls a little short for me and just sounds a little flat. This is also apparent on 'Star Rider' and 'Souls Alive', I also think the band have come along way since they recorded this live material and think maybe new live tracks would sound a lot better.

I would say this EP is for fans only, if you want the new tracks I am sure they will be in the next album so no need to buy this release. I though think these two new studio tracks are worth listening to, so do check them out and if your a Halloween fan your going to really love their material so this is a must for you.

Review by Dan Devour