UNIFAUN

Unifaun´s debut album is a strange size. The two man band Unifaun are passionate fans of seventies Genesis for sure because this is the closest I´ve ever heard anyone come to the originals. I´m a bit biased if I think this is a great thing or not and it´s a bit hard to review this album on it´s own merits when you are constantly reminded of the originals.

Unifaun´s music is inspired by Genesis 1973-1978 era which means that there are both traces of Peter Gabriel era Genesis but certainly also early Phil Collins era Genesis. Singer Nad Sylvan ( who also handles almost everything else on the album) sometimes sound like Peter Gabriel and sometimes like Phil Collins. I also hear Fish a couple of times but bottom line is that he sounds very much like the originals. The instrumentation has all the characteristics of 1973-1978 era Genesis. Beautiful symphonic keyboards, melodic guitars ( both acoustic and electric) and a tight rythm section ( both drums and bass are played by Nad Sylvan).

The compositions are mostly memorable and mildly challenging but some songs do lean a bit too much on the commercial side of Genesis which I never found appealing. Welcome to the Farm is a good example of that while songs like Mr. Marmaduke and the Minister and the epic Quest for the Last Virtue are more progressive and interesting for me. The instrumental Rehacksis also needs to be mentioned with it´s ( as the title suggests) very Steve Hackett like guitar leads. It´s almost as if it´s a forgotten Genesis instrumental from the seventies.

The musicianship is excellent. Both musicians are very good. Imitating your idols like they do on this album isn´t as easy as some might believe. They are very skilled composers and musicians.

The production is delightful. Soft and pleasant. A lot of the Genesis imitators that appeared in the eighties really had trouble creating a sound like Genesis had in the seventies but with the studio technics of today Unifaun has succeeded in doing just that.

How much you enjoy this album is very much depending on if you can look past the fact that Unifaun is a clone band to the bone and just enjoy the music without being too distracted or annoyed by this fact. As I said I´m a bit biased as some of the most important things in music IMO are the will and the need to create something unique and that can´t be said about Unifaun. On the other hand this music is so well executed and played that I can´t help enjoying it a lot anyway despite my normal principles and ideas. I think the music deserves a rating somewhere between a 3 and a 4 star rating but because of the commercial moments that I don´t enjoy and the clone factor I´ll give it a 3. That´s still a very high rating for a clone band IMO and an indication that this is a really good album.