‘Glow’ is Unjust‘s third album, after starting up in San Fransisco in 1999. With a keyboardist in the band, they have a big sound that draws influence from all over the rock, metal and emo worlds. Kicking off in very tranquil style with the instrumental ‘Paper Planets’, Unjust lay out a delicate, tranquil canvas, before ‘Throwin Pennies’ tears it all apart. If you were to take power metal in all it’s Scandinavian glory, take away the flashy riffs and replace them with some of nu-metals dreary one-chord chugs, add vocals that could be Mike Patton, Bert McCrackin or Chino Moreno at the most tender, and you’re near the sound of Unjust.
Faith No More are an obvious influence on this band, and coincidentally, this album is being released on FNM keyboardist Billy Gould’s label Koolarrow in North America. Third track, ‘Way Out’ is the standout on the album and a possible single choice thanks to its catchy chorus hook and gentle rhythm. Other tracks, such as ‘Throwin Pennies’ see the band in full rock-out mode, coming across as an emo band with a metal background rather than punk. When they slow down too much, as on token ballad ‘Naming The Monster’, they become a bit too dreary, and the album starts to plod.
‘Falling’ is the most MOR song on this record, a very toned down affair that couldn’t offend my Gran, before falling back into a nu-metal muddle at the end. It is when this band concentrates on creating atmospheres musically and adding power with the vocals on top that they fully succeed. But all too often they start to sound like a nu-metal band and destroy the aura they create. The keyboards work well when adding melodies to the sound, but in contrast work dreadfully when adding layers of synth padding beneath the sound in true 80’s cheese style.
This band could probably have been big by now if they’d have had a push when nu-metal and emo where at the height of their fame, but now they are sounding a bit dated. Most of the songs are of a high standard though, and hopefully this band can continue unaffected by the backlash of the scenes that their music borrows from, as they obviously have a talent at writing big anthemic rock songs.
www.unjust.com
Ben Gosling