When Unto Others said ‘OOWAGH! HOOWAGH!’, we felt that. The Oregon four-piece don’t just play classic heavy metal, they mainline it with full-throttle, broken-bottle adrenaline matched only by Jason Statham in Crank. Their first two records were zip-locked bags of lightning – can they strike thrice?
No. Yes. Sort of? Never, Neverland isn’t immediate like Mana or Strength, but as with termite infestations and Zumba classes, it spreads. Opening track Butterfly telegraphs more Him and Type O Negative than ever before, lush synth and low-end chug interlacing with lovelorn lyrics and Deathstars-ish backing vocals. It’s the closest they’ve brushed against the goth rock label with which they’re pegged, and they do indulge; Suicide Today’s punchline is top-shelf Pete Steele, sans any splayed arseholes or Playgirl spreads.
They’re still well hard, mind. Momma Likes The Door Closed rips through Metallica’s Load-era playbook, endorsing matriarchal Satanism atop petrol-headed percussion; Flatline could be the heaviest thing they’ve put to tape, nodding to Cradle Of Filth’s more unhinged outbursts.
These instances, plus Iron Maiden and Sisters Of Mercy callbacks, spotlight odder turns like Sunshine; Gabriel Franco serves Tom DeLonge during the chorus. Gabriel’s always been the band’s Pole star. This time, he’s slackened control. Never, Neverland is their most collaborative effort, perhaps explaining its looser parameters, and the carnivalesque lurch on I Am The Light.
They’re still undeniably Unto Others, though: Gabriel’s baritone vocal smacking like a stone, Hilton-clean guitar arpeggios dancing over riffs and rhythms. You still get your ‘HOOH!’ chants as Gabriel does his wolf howl. It’s familiar yet idiosyncratic, but moreover fresh, despite its vintage influence. No other band’s writing songs like this in 2024, and they shouldn’t bother trying. Unto Others have already done it better.
Never, Neverland is out September 20 via Century Media. Unto Others tour Europe and the UK with Green Lung from February 6 2025. For the full list of dates, visit their official website.
