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Days Of Grace: Unio Mystica
Days Of Grace - Unio Mystica

2005-10-04

Days Of Grace is a German metalcore band. Although the band was founded in 1997, you can still say it's a new band. Eight years ago they had their debut album, and now Unio Mystica is their second album.
The work on that album began in 1999 but it was released only four years later. The most impressive thing on this album is the fact that although it was a self-production with no help from any record company, the sound was not harmed in any way. In fact, the sound is terrific. You can hear a few jazzy elements, but by the way the singing and playing are going I would have to say that there's an inevitable comparison here to Machine Head.

The album begins with a very heavy sound and some growling that wouldn't have embarrassed any death metal vocalist. The opening song, Stuck State, includes all that and more, which is why it is considered to be one of the best songs on the album. One Voice comes after and starts the metalcore, although the screams here are often reminiscent of other metal genres. On the next song, Secret War, the song takes a new direction completely halfway through when the band plays more softly and singing mellows down. Even Though Chosen View(the next song) features some heavy screams and some excellent heavy sound-playing, it doesn't return to the growling that you could have heard on Stuck State. Spoken Words catches you completely off-guard with the melodic sounds of the acoustic guitar and the soft singing, but after awhile the heavy metalcore makes a comeback with a good work on the vocals and on the drums. One Eyed King follows the same line and also surprises at the beginning with a Prodigy-like rhythms. Shades is the next track, but this one goes to a slower type of playing and also to a heavier one. The singing remains the same – no growls like on the first track, but plenty of metalcore screams that kind of resembles to Soil at times.

Unio Mystica, the theme song, combines a fast-pace rhythm, heavier playing and a few growls(especially towards the end of the track) to create another great song that could be regarded as the best on this album if you hadn't gone for Stuck State. The Game replays Spoken Words as far as the idea of the song is concerned, but it also features some soft singing in the verses that lead up to the chorus. B Or G is all about heavy metalcore, and the last track, Flaming Lips, creates a sensation of an epilogue with its semi-electronical tunes and the calm, computer-like sound of the singer.

All in all, a pretty good album with an excellent display on the technical side (Quo and Peter on guitars and vocals, Steffen the bass player and Franc the drummer)as well as on the production side(I still can't believe that album was self-produced).

Nir Haviv



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