November 3, 2010

Reviewer: Chris

You gotta love Poland!

Even with the most insipid, mundane garbage emerging from this cesspool that is “gothic metal” there is always a bright spot here and there, and one of them seems to be Unsun. Granted, this is far from groundbreaking or even original, but the songs here are catchy and blow away anything I’ve heard from similar bands in recent months. If these damn bands weren’t all vying for Evanescense’s spot in the gothic fray they were attempting to steal Tarja’s vocal thunder. This simplistic, even middle-road style is quite entertaining.

Clinic for Dolls is the band’s sophomore effort and it fares far better for me than the first effort, The End of Life, which was decent but struggling to find just the right niche. What I do like about Clinic for Dolls is the relative ease with which the songs come across. While there is some serious hard rock/metal vibe to them, the underlying notion is that there’s nothing overpowering here so the music can just breathe on its own. I usually steer far clear of this music, but this one enticed me after a visit to the band’s MySpace page.

“Mockers” is a terrific song that has a slick finesse to it under vocalist Aya’s strong, yet subdued voice; she does little to try and outdo herself with the songs, opting to let her natural abilities carry her through, and she does a wonderful job doing just that. Guitarist Mauser doesn’t destroy riff records anywhere, but he does solicit a good chord progression here and there, especially in “Not Enough” and “A Single Touch,” both good songs with fun hooks and melodies. Some of his solos aren’t too bad either.

With all of the terrible rapists out there posing as gothic musicians today it’s a pleasure to see a band pop up once in a very great while and simply go for it on all cylinders with what’s in front of them as opposed to horrible overcompensation with dismal talent or ideas. Clinic for Dolls captures some serenity within tracks like “The Last Tear” to the point where you can feel the tempo of the album slow down just enough to call out a Within Temptation influence without all of the over-the-top orchestral variations. There’s a small influence of Sharon Den Adel herein, but it’s not enough to scream “Thief!”; what the band might otherwise lack in originality they make up for in the fact that they are good at what they do without divisive implements. 

As I said, simplest forms usually work to the band’s advantage, and Unsun did very little to frustrate or bore me, so in that regard I certainly look forward to anything else the band offers up for future reference and consumption...

Release Date: October 11, 2010
Label: Armoury Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  The Lost Way
2.  Clinic for Dolls
3.  Time
4.  Mockers
5.  Not Enough
6.  The Last Tear
7.  Home
8.  I Ceased
9.  A Single Touch
10.  Why

Total playing time:  44:16

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Unsun - Clinic for Dolls