Unsun – Clinic for Dolls (2010)

With a world-wide release of October 11th, today we get Unsun’s second Gothic Metal/Rock album “Clinic for Dolls”. Hailing from Poland, this band features on the country’s most renowned Metal guitarist Maurycy Stefanowicz (Mauser) from Vader, Christ Agony and Dies Irae fame. Rounding up the two-person permanent lineup from the band, we have Mauser’s wife Aya. In the album liner notes we have that ex-member’s Heinrich (bass guitar) and Vaaver (drums) still contributed to this album.

Unsun, plays a very straight forward Gothic Metal that is easily identified by the powerful guitar riffs and sweet vocals from Aya. The band’s sound is nothing revolutionary and at some points gets a bit monotone, but by the standards of the genre, “Clinic for Dolls” is a very solid album.

After Mauser left Vader in 2008 to fully focus on Unsun, many people probably thought he was crazy, but with this album you can see that he is making his guitar skills present in a completely different musical genre and kicking-ass at it. While the riffs are obviously less powerful than in Vader, in “Clinic for Dolls” we get some epic moments in the way of catchy riffs and soaring solos (like on “Not Enough”).

The second highlight of “Clinic for Dolls” is Aya’s vocals. While they aren’t your traditional Soprano/classically trained vocals, we get very sweet and natural melodies that will stick in your head and can easily be set apart from other vocalist of the scene. There is no denying that Aya is a good singer, but after 20-25 minutes the vocals might get very linear for some people. Gothic Metal has recently been filled with intricate layering effects to make vocals soar even more, and we feel that Unsun was missing a bit on this department. On the other hand, the vocals sound and feel very natural, so purists of the genre might find them refreshing these day and age.

Most songs follow the similar pattern of catchy riffing, sweet vocals and keyboard atmospheres/piano sections, a very traditional approach to Gothic Metal, but executed to perfection. Standout songs include “The Lost Way”, a very powerful album opener. “A Single Touch”, a song that reminded us of To/Die/For from the opening riff/keyboard combination. The piano/riff driven “I Ceased” that is probably the most dynamic song of the album.

Overall, “Clinic for Dolls” is a pretty solid Gothic Metal album since it has catchy songs and great vocals. However, the album is not as diverse as one would expect, and it’s missing some of the features (vocal layering, different instruments, etc) that current bands in the scene are exploiting in their releases. This can be seen as a double edge sword, since it also makes this release more appealing to fans of Gothic Rock and ‘less complex’ music.

Release: October 11th, 2010

Country: Poland