Earth Magick

Finnish goth metal crew Unshine have one key element in their favor: singer Susanna Vesilahti sounds like Tori Amos should have (but didn't) during her own infamous metal flirtations back in the late '80s, and her attractive voice stays at the center of all of these songs. Unshine's primary flaw is that they seem to be of two minds as to their musical direction, with part of the album pointed toward standard-issue goth metal in the tradition of Lacuna Coil and Nightwish and another, potentially more interesting side that puts those influences in an unapologetically poppy direction. The first single, "Rowena's Song," is genuinely catchy, sounding like Evanescence without the angst, or perhaps a more aggressive version of mid-'90s alterna-drone-poppers the Cranberries. Elsewhere, "Not for Me" and "Snow White" explore the intersection between '70s prog and the Lilith Fair sound. As the record goes on, however, the songs move into more traditional goth metal, and songs like "For the Huntress and the Moon" are considerably less individual, and less appealing as well. Unshine could go either way at this point, but the best material on Earth Magick hints at something potentially very interesting here.