Unisonic - Light Of Dawn

Even the album cover is classic old school stuff: crazy-assed squadrons of ballooned rocketships? Dafuq?I totally understand that some bands want to distance themselves from the S word. Once people hear "supergroup" they start listening to the music in a fundamentally different way, as if the finished product needed to be a perfect blending of the music of each of the various bands that each member came from rather than the result of a shared vision amongst like-minded musicians. Founded in 2009, Unisonic really gelled when pathologically-busy guitarist Kai Hansen joined his fellow ex-Helloween bandmate, singer Michael Kiske - alongside guitarist Mandy Meyer (Asia, Gotthard and Krokus), bassist Dennis Ward, and drummer Kosta Zafiriou (both of Germany’s Pink Cream 69) - completing a musical formula that has resulted in the band's fantastic sophomore effort, Light Of Dawn.

I can't tell you how good it is to hear some really good, authentic, melodic hard rock these days. In a musical soundscape replete with retro bands, nothing beats the old-school talent of outfits like this. There's killer solos weaving throughout heavy, but not overdone, hard rocking tunes and it all has the well-balanced production of the best music of this genre's heyday. Rags calls this meat and potatoes metal, which is not meant in a pejorative way at all. It's just straightahead bad-ass music, without gimmicks, cloying self-awareness, or any other such modern trappings that can take the fun out of what us old fogies used to listen to 'til the wee small hours (up all night, sleep all day, right?). This is some great fucking stuff.

The Bottom Line: Hey, new kids. If you wanna rock, good on ya. But you would be wise to do your homework and learn from those before you. It won't ruin your vision if you've really got the goods. And the education will pay back in spades. The textbook was written by guys like Hansen and company, and it's waiting for you. 'Nuff said.

- Genghis will be cranking this shit on his stereo for many nights to come (sorry, neighbors)...