Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: After having released two singles Swedish duo Unroyal unleashes their new album. This is the band’s second opus but the first one released by Progress Productions.

Content: The sound is easy to define: pure Synth-Pop music with a solid 80s flavor on top which now and then might remind OMD. The songs are a mix of melancholia and sensation of happiness.

+ + + : I first got the impression ‘nothing special, nothing new’, but quite progressively Unroyal took me by surprise. The songs are masterly written and professionally produced. The vintage touch emerging from string parts and other, typical, 80s influences like sweeps create a refreshing sensation. The band also has a talented singer while I also have to say a word about the lyrical content. The lyrics are definitely important. I first noticed a rather funny way to express things -like on “Burn Your Records” but still a delicate, touching and poetic way -like on “Shapes Of Daylight”.

– – – : The album isn’t maybe featuring an ‘absolute’ hit but we do get non-stop cool songs.

Conclusion: Unroyal is a great and talented discovery in the wider fields of Synth-Pop.

Best songs: “Burn Your Records”, “The Other Side Of Me”, “Shapes Of Daylight”, “After Life”, “The Cruelest Design”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/unroyalsounds

Label: www.progress-productions.com / www.facebook.com/progresspro

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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