UNI/VS Set the Tone for Heavy Homecomings on New Track ‘So Loveless’
When Australia needs them most, the UNI/VS will answer the call every time without a doubt. Although it became scarcely, the Brisbane brutes dignify the metal scene time and time again. Picking up their axes ready to shred, bringing offerings to their long-serving audience with dispersed singles over the previous few years. Rarefying their musical tycoon with each passing song.
In the beginning came brutal faces, and with so came many brutal riffs on premiere EP Deaths Door (2017). Hardcore slams, techy riffs with a hard whiff of djenty barbarity poured straight down your gullet, UNI/VS manifested their identity into Brisbane metal scenes soul.
Circling back around for a second strike like a great white in the water, the local pond's savagery levels spiked to an all-time high under sophomore EP release Smile (2018). The self-titled single set an accelerated pace for the following songs, digging deeper with more powerful and pronounced clean vocals, and alluring clean tone breaks between the melodic chaos, we hoped would never cease.
Unfortunately, the destroyer of the music scene (our old nemesis COVID) put a small dampener on the bands progress as it did an army of others. UNI/VS decided to keep their heads above water trickling the love and support from their fans into an array of singles that have lead us to the present day. The appetiser of our 3-course tunes started with ‘Saboteur’, a personal vision of the constant desire to self-sabotage our lives when things like change put you in an uncomfortable state. Following in good time came our Main Course, ‘Ghost of Me’. Pushing the use of other instruments into their process, violins come striking in to take the lead while solid chugs hold up the foundations. Continuing to expose their souls to the world not just with lyrics but rhythmically siding on a lighter tone. The mixture of clean and unclean vocals simultaneously bring together the feeling of sorrow and regret.
Ending our trio of singles but starting a new and exciting era for UNI/VS brings their most recent release, ‘So Loveless’. Wrapped in metaphors surrounding mental health, the feeling of loneliness and emptiness, knowing you’re broken, wanting to be repaired. Hard, refined, jumpy riffs ambush you with an echoed synth that takes over to carry the verse sharing the spotlight with devastating yells by vocalist Scott Willis. A poppy chorus with a fusion of both vocalists brings the pace back a bit to prepare you for a molten core imploding breakdown. Seamlessly flowing between their lighter and heavy sides, the song circles back around nicely in time for some spin-kicking djenty stabs.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxNMKovJBBd/?hl=en
My crystal ball shows that with the amount of hype UNI/VS are once again retaining by releasing ‘So Loveless’ before accompanying prog-metalcore commanders Volumes on their Australia Tour 2023, we should be seeing and hearing from them, a lot more.
Words by Ed Atlas (@YourFavouriteMerchGuy)
Stream ‘So Loveless’ here
