977. The Unity / The Unity. 2017. 3.5/5

It’s a tough gig when the leader of the band you are in decides to go off and do one of his side projects, and thus leave your band in limbo for that length of time. In essence that is what happened to new Gamma Ray drummer Michael Ehré, who found himself at a loose end when the reformed and expanded Helloween tour project was announced late in 2016. So what do you do? Well, you give a nudge to Gamma Ray guitar god Henjo Richter, get him to follow you, and with your own band The Unity decided to record and release your own album. And this is where we are today.

It was always important to go into this album remembering that this isn’t Gamma Ray. Two excellent musicians from that band have joined four other excellent musicians from other projects to form this band that is not Gamma Ray. Now, once you accept that fact, and also listen to this like it is an exciting new band playing Euro styled metal in the traditions of those bands, then you will have a better chance of appreciating it from the outset.
For the most part this is a pretty solid release. The first two singles released prior to the album coming out lead off the list, and both "Rise and Fall" and "No More Lies" hit all the right places. It is very much in the traditions of European power metal, but both opening tracks edge the power to a higher setting, led by the rising vocals of Gianba Manenti who proves from the outset he has a fair set of pipes on him. "No More Lies" did have to grow on me, but I now find I'm drawn to sing and play along with it. "God of Temptation" goes for a slower and heavier back track which they actually pull off really well, factoring in the chorus of vocals over the top. "Firesign" is one of a number of sings that has more than just a touch of Avantasia about it, and vocally it reaches the two pinnacles with what seems like a minimum of effort.
"Always Just You" is a plodder after the opening tracks, without much inspiration and just the basic guitar and drum tracks. This is overturned by "Close to Crazy" which picks things up a bit and adds a bit of individuality to the guitars and vocals. "The Wishing Well" and "Edens Fall" are middle of the road tracks for this genre, not bad songs but without inspiring anything out of the ordinary for the listener. "Redeemer" acts as a vehicle especially for Gianba's vocals, showing off  his crooning abilities. The short and sweet guitar riff of "Super Distortion" sweeps straight into "Killer Instinct", before the closing track "Never Forget" ties off what is a very acceptable debut release.
Gianba Manenti on vocals is powerful, has a great range, and does an excellent job on this album. He finds the mark immediately and doesn’t hold back. The rhythm section of Jogi Sweers on bass, Sascha Onnen on keyboards and Ehré on drums is fantastic. They hold the songs together in admirable fashion given the power of the vocals and guitars that take centre stage for the most part. Stefan Ellerhorst is excellent on guitar, and in the company of Henjo throughout creates an brilliant dual guitar attack that makes the most of the written material to create the atmosphere required for enjoyable listening.
I won't lie that the album doesn't contain a lot of some of the aspects I would loved to have heard, that being some real speed, and some scintillating solo bursts from the guitarists. For the most part this settles nicely into the tempo you would expect and doesn't compete with the heavyweights of the genre such as Gamma Ray, Helloween or Blind Guardian. And fair enough too, because both Henjo and Michael made it clear early on that this band was looking to record the kind of music that the two of them enjoy that is separate from Gamma Ray's material. So going in I knew this would be the case. Still, one can only dream of what they could produce in that direction should they want to.

Given this sextet has signed a multi-year deal with their record company, you can only hope that if this succeeds then there will be more albums to come. How that all ties in with the members’ other projects remains to be seen, but it augers well for what will hopefully be a long term band rather than a one-off project.

Rating:  A debut worth a listen.  3.5/5