THE UNITY-The Unity

Steamhammer/SPV

The Unity contains four members of the band Love.Might.Kill plus Gamma Ray guitarist Henjo Richter. Drummer Michael Ehre is also involved with Gamma Ray and the duo started their own group as Gamma Ray was put on the sideline for a while also because Gamma Ray boss Kai Hansen was busy with his own project ‘XXX Three Decades In Metal’. Ehre, who is a real busy musician as he is involved with several bands, got his mates from Love.Might.Kill interested and there we have The Unity. The musical style of The Unity is easy to describe: melodic power metal. The fact that all the musicians have shared studio and stage with another surely can be felt on the album. The band sounds very tight, solid and pretty heavy from time to time. Biggest asset to me is Italian singer Jan Manenti who goes from high to low with his big reach and proves to be a very versatile vocalist (listen to the way he sings ,,The Wishing Well’’, just fantastic). Henjo Richter and second guitarist Stef E have filled the CD with thunderous riffs and solos giving the music lots of flavour. Because of that, keyboardist Sascha Onnen is a bit snowed under with his keyboards, playing a more supporting role. Does The Unity ad new elements to metal? No, when you listen to the CD you will have several ‘aha’ moments, but that is not so strange if you look at the background of the musicians involved. I am convinced that this first product of these guys is one that will please fans of Gamma Ray, Helloween and Masterplan to the maximum. The Unity has worked almost a year and a half on the twelve songs and it shows. The songs are strong, musicianship flawless, production powerful so there is every reason to enjoy this release.