Band:	Unholy
Album:	The Second Ring Of Power
Style:	Death doom metal
Release date:	1994

Disc I [CD]
01. The Second Ring Of Power
02. Languish For Bliss
03. Lady Babylon
04. Neverending Day
05. Dreamside
06. Procession Of Black Doom
07. Covetous Glance
08. Air
09. Serious Personality Disturbance And Deep Anxiety

Disc II [DVD]
01. The Second Ring Of Power
02. Languish For Bliss
03. Gray Blow
04. Air
05. Lady Babylon
06. Dreamside
07. Covetous Glance
08. Time Has Gone

One year after their brilliant debut album which was something "From The Shadows", these Finnish avant-garde doomsters managed to return with an even greater effort, the renowned "The Second Ring Of Power", which was released one year after their debut album (1994). Darkness and sorrow start rising once again somewhere from the everlasting night of the Finnish soundscapes, surrounding the world in their impenetrable and suffocating oblivion.

The genius song-writing of the band shines for one more time and that mourning light is so vivid that even the blind can see it and weep in silence. Sounds of dismay, menacing serenity, death-like nightmarish visions and depression surround the listener once again with their intensity and affection that there's no way out, you follow willingly having no other option or way to go.

High-quality and deeply inspired, but above all unique, doom metal is what Unholy have to offer and it's not difficult to understand why they are amongst the best names of the scene! All the instruments contribute in the most appropriate way into the fabulous final outcome and you won't complain about any of them since they play their role wonderfully. The production is good and this is a big plus, making the already great compositions sound even better, haunting the listener.

The vocals are exceptional, varying from painful screams to powerful grunts and from threatening whispers or recites to chanting male vocals or female ones, with each vocal passage adorning the atmosphere with echoes of sorrow. Someone may notice that Marco Kehren was influenced up to an extent by the extreme vocals lying on this masterful piece of work. The rhythm section is brilliant, the pulsating bass lines and the imposing drumming pour their souls into creating unreached walls of sound in the heavy atmosphere and they succeed, totally! The keyboard melodies are genius, they are present through the whole duration of the album and they evoke that menacing intense or serene feeling that surrounds the listener every single moment, evoking a cold aesthetic of bleeding solitude that leaves wounds behind. Last but not least the guitar work for one more time is exceptional whether it is powerful riffing or acoustic guitar chords that evoke a fragile yet distressing feeling in the air.

The imposing and powerful "The Second Ring Of Power" that opens the album in a dynamic way, the emotional, melodic and utterly lachrymose "Languish For Bliss", the distressing and atmospheric "Lady Babylon", the intense and haunting "Neverending Day", the lurking aesthetic of "Dreamside", the lethargic and traumatic sorrow of "Procession Of Black Doom", the twisted and intense "Covetous Glance" and the floating beauty and nightmare of "Air" will definitely strike you down with their grandeur! Every single song of the album is a masterpiece of atmosphere and quality, all but "Serious Personality Disturbance And Deep Anxiety" which ruins a bit the overall aesthetic of the album with its obscure and oriental experimentations, but it represents its title in the most ideal way. Otherwise "The Second Ring Of Power" would have been flawless.

A masterpiece for the doom metal scene that no doom metal fan should miss, It would be a cardinal sin to ignore its existence!