Album Review: The Unity - Pride
Reviewed by Jon Wigg
Germany’s The Unity present their third album – Pride – following on from 2017’s self-titled affair and 2018’s Rise. Including former members of Primal Fear and Gamma Ray, there is certainly some power metal pedigree here and the performances back this up. Stylistically, the power metal roots are there throughout the album although there are a number of metal/rock genres represented.
The first single ‘We Don’t Need Them Here’ lyrically stands against intolerance and oppression and musically is up tempo. It trips along nicely with its traditional power metal feel and chant along chorus. ‘Hands of Time’ is the first track on the album (after the obligatory instrumental intro) and this also drives forward well with an excellent rhythm section. The vocals of Italian Gianbattista Manenti are strong across the piece and particularly on these 2 tracks – the faster paced song fit his style and feel better for me than the slower tracks.
The rest of the band consists of twin guitarists Henjo Richter (Gamma Ray) and Stef E, bassist Jogi Sweers, Sascha Onnen on keyboards and Michael Ehré (Primal Fear, Gamma Ray, Firewind) and all provide good performances. Other themes such as climate change and populism are tackled and musically the styles vary from power metal to shuffle rock.
The second single ‘Line and Sinker’ is a strange choice as it’s the one track here that feels like filler. Its not a bad song but the weakest on the album – almost hard rock paint by numbers.
There are a lot of 1980’s vibes on the album as well starting with ‘Destination Unknown’ which is mid-paced and has an atmosphere of melancholy before morphing into an anthem. ‘Angel of Dawn’ and ‘Guess How I Hate This’ are both decent rockers that continue the 80’s feel. The last 2 track on ‘Pride’ are ‘Rusty Cadillac’ and ‘You Don’t Walk Alone’ and both have a Mötley Crüe mood. Indeed, the first almost seems like a tribute (albeit played by better musicians!).
‘Wave of Fear’ is slow and heavy and provides a nice change in the middle of the album.
The Unity really excel in the faster paced, traditional power metal tracks. Added to the aforementioned ‘We Don’t Need Them Here’ and ‘Hands of Time’, there are the excellent ‘Damn Nation’ which has a 2000’s Helloween feel and the modern metal ‘Scenery of Hate’ which is the most dynamic track here. These 2 songs really allow the members to show off their potential and maybe should have provided the second single rather than ‘Line and Sinker’.
Overall a very good power metal/hard rock album that is slightly unbalanced but shows a lot of promise from the Unity. I look forward to hearing their next offering.
The Unity release 'Pride' via SPV on March 13th
