Gone but not forgotten: UnsraW.

 

Whilst writing my previous blog post about the female fronted band Dazzle Vision, an idea popped into my mind. Gone But Not Forgotten shall be a series within which I shall focus upon disbanded former artists and bands. These will be often overlooked and underappreciated bands that I feel deserve a listen. When choosing my next subject for this series, one band stood out to me. That band was UnsraW. 

The story of UnsraW is an interesting one. The band was formed following the dissolution of the independent band, Core The Child. Vocalist Yuuki and drummer Shou swiftly moved on to a new project which became UnsraW. Surprisingly, UnsraW didn't release any material from the get go and instead decided to perform "Secret lives". It was following one of these lives that they were scouted by aa record label that specialized in Visual Kei bands known as, Speed Disk. 

It was after signing on with the label that the group released their first proper singles, 9 and Gate of Death. Fortunately for the group, the limited 1000 press copies sold out rather quickly. Their first EP titled, Spiral Circle was released in late 2006. Spiral Circle also sold out rather swiftly. A year later, they were able to export their material to Europe through CLJ Records, a professional import company. This included their first completed album, Spiral Circle -Complete- as well as their, live concert DVD, Screaming Birthday. Then, in the summer of that very same year, the band released 2 EPs entitled, Abel and Kein in reference to the bible brothers. Abel would be released first in August whilst, Kein would release the following month on September 26. Interestingly, the two EPs were released as a singular album in Europe with a bonus track and it would later also be released as an album in Japan. The group would continue with difficulties along the way, including Yuuki suffering from a lung disease in 2008, until they disbanded in 2011. They did manage to play a final live concert in 2013. 

UnsraW were a unique band that stood out amongst their visual kei peers. They managed to create really atmospheric, haunting tracks such as Gate of Death which made great use of heavy guitar and bass riffs as well as great, almost creepy vocals from Yuuki. The intro to the song feels like being transported to a dark realm which makes the visual imagery of the dark, candle lit music video very tonally appropriate. 

Their song Karma is a heavy, crunching musical bulldozer that hits the listener in the face and never lets up. Once again, there's some excellent riffs and the drumming is on point. What's different in this particular song is Yuuki's vocal technique. In Karma, the song hinges on a main riff that sounds like a heavy old school Dynasty Warriors track. In certain songs such as Ashes to Ashes, Yuuki rather than aim for strictly clean melodious vocals, instead belts out in screams that are growl like whilst hitting high notes. It's rather impressive. 

In contrast once again to both of the first two songs, Kyuumin Oyasumi is a completely different beast. This song is a softer, gentler ballad with a beautiful melody full of rich acoustic like guitar which makes for a very pleasant, tranquil listening experience. Yuuki also chose to sing in a much softer cadence for this song which adds to the dream like feel. 

Now to address one of the issues that people have spoken about in regards to not being able to give UnsraW a proper chance. Yuuki's voice has often been a point of contention amongst people attempting to become a fan of the group. I can see why some might not like it as he doesn't always hit every clean note to the fullest. That's fine, but in contrast I believe it adds to the overall charm of their work. As David Byrne once said, "The better the singer's voice, the harder it is to believe what they're saying". I believe that that statement rings true in regards to music and is why I have a distain for most modern pop music. The amount of effort and emotion that Yuuki puts into his voice makes him believable. I would put him into a similar category to Ian Curtis of Joy Division as they both have what some would consider to be not the greatest voices and yet, they're definitely believable.

UnsraW's music makes for a great dark fantasy type of soundtrack. I loved playing The Witcher 3 with them playing in the background. It added greatly to the experience, especially when the heavy tracks playing during combat. Some of their work such as Sora and Sakura Namida even have medieval invoking acoustic intros. They had an ability to be quite varied in style and sound as they could put out a sombre, subdued ballad and then hit you with a bone crunching heaviness. I find it really unfortunate that they experienced difficulties such as Yuuki's lung disease in 2008 as they were just hitting their stride and had so much more to offer the world. In any case, please give them a listen and enjoy as I really recommend giving them a chance. They're worth a listen in my opinion.