Of course, the word unchain brings no other than the mighty Van Halen to mind. I war rather curious to check out if these Swiss guess were acting like a VH clone in the 00's. Hence, it was a good point to come to the conclusion that the band's name observed a - rather - general approach to the traditional Halen sound. Yeap, it was a good time listening to this one.
Switzerlind may not be the mother of the Rock/Metal sound, but stands proud enough with such qualitative bands in the last years. From Krokus to Celtic Frost, from China to Samael, from Gotthard to Aeturnum, this is a new addition to the bill. Formerly known as Mines, the band seems to have gained quite a lot of experience sharing the stage with known bands as Krokus and Uriah Heep. Changing name to Unchain, it's been two years now fir the Swiss act working hard on building a good status for their first official full length release.
Well, it's only Rock n' Roll and we like it. Flirting with both the European and US hard Rock 'n' Roll, Unchain comes off with a set of straightforward rockin' tracks. No sophisticate songwriting, no innovative guitar work, no complex rhythm section. In the vain of bands like D.A.D., L.A. Guns, Van Halen, Krokus, AC/DC, XYZ and The Cult - in terms of music - the vocals boast a non-sleaze vibe. They reminded me of Sting's harmonies in the Police years at times, while Diamond Dave (Van Halen) and Steve Lee (Gotthard) may also come to mind. Not bad.
Jumping off to the 'cons' section, two things should be mentioned: a) the production - handled by the one and only Achim K?hler (Primal Fear, Sinner) in Stuttgart, Germany - is (weird...) somehow average, with not enough space for guitar buzz, while the front vocal lines are also not clearly demonstrated (as they should be). Nothing bad, of course, but things could work better. b) Nothing groundbreaking is seen here, in this album. It's a good hard rockin' album, but everything has been heard countless times before. So, should we leave AC/DC alone to do business in our world? Of course no, but this means that other crucial factors - e.g. the production mentioned above - should be taken more seriously into consideration.
Enough. For the rockers, this is a good-to-very-good album from a 'fresh' band that has the fonts to offer interesting works in the future. If you have enough money to add Unchain to your collection, that'd be cool. If you don't, you can by-pass it. For me, just try it once. It's good enough.