Unshine
Dark Half Rising

A band that isn’t really shining, if we are to believe the name they have chosen. They are from Finland and apparently their genre is druid metal (whatever that is). Dark Half Rising is their third album and the first one on an international record label, which means that they are looking to reach out further with their musical prowess. To do that they need to be noticed and one thing that could make you take notice is a lovely cover artwork with an eagle attacking it’s prey which is a big beast that probably puts up a decent fight. And there’s fire there s well, it looks exciting. This cover art is quite lovely. But looks can of course be deceiving and so can sales pitches, so what is the real deal?

It is gothic, folkish metal with a rather big emphasis on the folkish thing. The label states that they play a unique blend of metal, folk and gothic rock which sounds like a blend they do (more or less) but unique is a strong word and I am not sure I get a feeling of uniqueness (the whole picture is somwhat different but it always reminds me of other bands). I think of a band called Iridio when I hear the opening track, then on the rest of the album I think the tone reminds a bit of finnish band Ensiferum but a bit slower and more mellow. It feels like they add a lot of folk pieces into their music and the singer has a really strong folkish voice, which gives an interesting sound to their music. I think that the folk part is perhaps the most prominent one in the music of Unshine. The sound is great letting the classical instruments and such take the place they deserve and need and the singer is excellent as well, I would say that it is an excellent production. The album itself shows for eleven tracks and 55 minutes of playing time during which we hear words in finnish and in english. It is definitely an interesting album creatively, but what about the songs?

I think that this is a great album, the songs are really good all the way through. Best are the vocals and the songs themselves especially tracks one, three and four which stand out strongly as memorable tracks for me. Not that the rest of the tracks are poor, they are just not as magical or memorable as those mentioned. But I can clearly conclude that this first international album by Unshine can definitely be considered a really strong album. It is well worth looking into if you are a fan of gothic metal, or druid metal as they call the genre themselves.

There aren’t many weak points on this album as it is a real high quality production but I think they should have spread the best tracks better and not lump them together in a big pile at the beginning of the album. Then I also think that the album is somewhere in the region of ten minutes too long, cut away those and you would have a tighter and more intense album that could not bore you. Now I find myself missing something great towards the end, which is where at least some of the best stuff should be, closer to the memory. This however is only trifles and doesn’t really detract anything from the bigger picture which is that Unshine is a rather brilliant band and this is a great album. A good international debut I would surmise.

Unshine is the name to remember and the album is called Dark Half Rising. Remember that!

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