Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Unto Others (formerly Idle Hands) have landed with a brand-new album. Following on from 2019’s Mana, Strength sees the four-piece (comprising Gabriel Franco, Brandon Hill, Sebastian Silva and Colin Vranizan) building on their influences, drawing on a wide mix of bands from Iron maiden and Type O Negative to The Cure and Fields Of The Nephilim to produce an album that feels strangely timeless. Produced and mixed by Arthur Rizk (Power Trip / Code Orange), Strength is a dynamic and atmospheric album that feels refreshingly different, albeit not without its flaws.
Opening in a haze of noise, Heroin makes for a solid introduction to the album. With clean guitars lurking beneath the surprisingly muscular riffing, the band very much evoke the Nephilim at their heaviest, while the post punk vocals of Gabriel Franco would not sound out of place on a Killing Joke album. With Arthur Rizk coaxing heavy tones out of the band, not least for a rampaging solo, there’s fantastic depth here and the results are deeply impressive. Next up, the vocal harmonies and clean guitars of Downtown tip a hat in the direct of The Smiths and, like those ministers of glum, there’s a sense of isolation that powerfully effective. Previously-released single When Will Gods [sic] Work Be Done keeps the atmosphere dark, the band adopting a Maiden-esque introduction that fits well with Brandon Hill’s surging bass and the subtle deathly elements incorporated into Gabriel’s delivery. Fitting with the bleak imagery of its title, No Children Laughing Now is a heavier piece that sounds like Black Album-era Metallica with a cure fixation, all theatrical vocal delivery and steel-plated riffing. An album highlight, it does much to encapsulate the band’s atmospheric approach to song-writing, while the chorus is easily as addictive as anything to which Robert Smith has put his name. A brief, calm introduction gives way to the galloping weight of Destiny, a track driven by Colin Vranizan’s potent percussive blasts, while another painfully addictive chorus lurks in the wings. The first half concludes with the slow paced Little Bird, another outing that remains firmly rooted in the post punk of the early eighties, especially in the way the reverb-washed vocals drift through the mix.
Opening side two, the short Why (not even hitting the three-minute mark) positively explodes out of the gates on a tide of percussive fury. With Morrisey-esque vocals and lyrics (“once again, the same old story…”), it’s a real throwback piece. It’s followed by the expansive gothic rock of Just A Matter Of Time, which has an addictive melody that is hard to shake. In contrast the band explore a more epic sound on the darkly-titled Hell Is For Children, which, with its picked guitar and mid-tempo beat, sounds like early Iron Maiden. Faster paced and with a hint of dry ice whispering through the mix, is the Cure-esque Summer Lightning, although a metallic element remains to keep things punchy. The sound of a rocket launch announces the arrival of Instinct, a strange hybrid of The Cure and Type O Negative. Deeply melodic, but with slower, harder vocals sitting beneath the surface, it’s a powerful piece that only builds in intensity. It leaves the title track to see the album out and, with tougher vocals sitting stop tighter riffs, it proves a powerful finale that reasserts the band’s metallic credentials.
An impressive offering, Strength sees Unto Others drawing on the post-punk and goth bands of the early eighties with no small amount of success. That said, by the time the album reaches its end, it has all started to feel a touch one dimensional and you can’t help but yearn for a couple of harder numbers in the vein of Heroin to break things up. Nevertheless, the band have a gift for melody, while the production is superlative, and fans of gothic rock would be well-advised to check this album out. 8/10
