Unto Others Never, Neverland CD Review

Compared to their previous releases, Never, Neverland offers more of a variety of tracks, which can sometimes make the album feel a little unfocused. Typically, their dark, brooding and morose yet hauntingly romanticized songs of love and life connect deep with me, but there are some rare misses here for me. That being the case, the highs on this album standout as some of my favorite work from them.

The opening track "Butterfly" is one of the album's finest offerings and feels heavily influenced by HIM. This makes sense on a few levels since HIM are known for their trademark love metal which I would say Unto Others are no stranger to. It also reminds me of HIM's song "Rip Out the Wings of a Butterfly" as "Butterfly" has a line about tearing the butterfly's wings off. "Momma Likes the Door Closed" is a fun, kind of tongue in cheek song about a son suspecting his mother of conducting Satanic rituals. Strength II ...Deep Cuts is an album that doesn't get enough love and "Angel of Light" would find itself right at home on it. The bass-driven love song is as touching as it is deep. And if that wasn't enough to get you in the feels, "Time Goes On" most certainly will. It's sentimental, reflective and catchy as hell. It's basically saying not to hang on to the past because time goes on and life will pass you by. There are a number of other standout tracks here such as "Suicide Today", "Flatline" and "Raigeki" that you wouldn't want to miss out on.

So, here we find the aforementioned rare misses in "Sunshine", "Cold World" and "I Am the Light". "Sunshine" reminds me of a 90's alt-rock ballad that I just can't get into. "Cold World" comes across as something I'd hear on an easy listening station and although I love Gabe's vocals on "I Am the Light", it just feels cold to me. There's also a missed opportunity on "Hoops" as the music is fantastic (including a killer guitar solo), but it is essentially an instrumental with a few "whoas" and "hoops" thrown around. 

If you're fortunate enough to own the deluxe edition of the album, it includes a pretty cool version of the Ramones' "Pet Sematary". It's interesting as they make it their own, but at times Gabe sounds eerily like Joey. If you're familiar with the band you know that they've done a handful of other covers and they're all damn good. Hopefully they keep this trend moving forward.

~TJ