Review by Dominik on August 15, 2026.

Time for a bit of history. What jumps to mind when I say "1789"? Right! The storming of the Bastille and the beginning of the French Revolution. That's 100 easily earned points right there. And what does this have to do with German Unrast's debut album "Unified In Bane"? I'm waiting… What did you say? Again right! Fricking nothing! Another 100 points. I simply needed some kind of silly introduction to pique your interest. If you're still reading, I guess it worked.

Having said that, at a second glance I could probably build some kind of bridge between the events mentioned above and this album. Nothing "revolutionary" happens here. There. Bridge built. Whether it holds is another question. And before anyone gets the wrong idea: this doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to "Unified In Bane". Quite the opposite, as you should. It is a more than solid piece of no-frills black metal, sometimes moving at a deliberate, almost sinister pace, but more often "storming" (there we go again!) through your auditory receptors. Everything comes with the right amount of dirt and grit. We are exposed to slightly abrasive, but mostly icy melodic guitar riffing, a vocalist who sounds like someone just woke him up and handed him a chamomile tea with soy milk for breakfast, and a production boasting a controlled rawness. The edges remain intact, but thankfully it never descends into "recorded inside a gurgling sewer pipe" territory.

Unrast, a German word meaning "restlessness", although admittedly not one you hear every Tuesday at the bakery, score high the moment they jump straight into a song. "Ascend" is a prime example. I'd say it doesn't get much more black metal than this. The melodic guitars are the main driving force and push the song forward at a fast pace. If you find some reminiscence of German black metal veterans Eternity in the guitar work, I wouldn't disagree. Everything is supported by a well-oiled rhythm section and a vocalist who, in the best German black metal tradition, spits his venom as the song progresses. His pitch is dark and ominous, without resorting to the obligatory black metal shrieks and tortured-cat noises. There is some variation, but nothing that requires you to rewind the track three times, trying to figure out what's going on, while staring at the speakers as if they have personally betrayed you.

"Riddance" is an interesting song to test a hypothesis. I found myself wondering whether it might actually have worked better as an instrumental. The guitars are once again the main driver, adding some variation by occasionally venturing into black-thrash riffing before moving into acoustic territory towards the end. The vocals, however, feel somewhat out of place at times. There are moments when they sound as if someone was handed the lyric sheet and told to read it aggressively. The musical foundation offers considerably more variation than the vocals manage to keep up with. That the frontman can do better is demonstrated on "Nebelschwaden" ("Tendrils of Fog"). The song starts with a melodic riff we have all heard approximately a thousand times before. And yet, annoyingly enough, it works (again). It is memorable and refuses to leave. I'd even go as far as saying it has a slight Mgła-esque quality to it, sounding both imploring and majestic at the same time. Apparently, originality isn't always a prerequisite for getting something stuck in someone's head.

"The Withered Husk" also manages to convince. The band chooses different motifs as foundational pillars, some of which recur as the song progresses, while others introduce entirely new sections. More deliberate passages are followed by blasts and vice versa. They keep the track moving without making it feel like someone is frantically pressing buttons on a black metal washing machine. At the 3:38 mark, another haunting guitar melody jumps to the forefront. Nothing here is overly complex or too technical, but Unrast manage to combine the individual elements remarkably well. The result is a cohesive, atmospheric and, most importantly, captivating work. After "Bearers Of The Black Mark", probably the angriest track on the album, "Remnants Of A Judgement" closes the release in a convincing manner with yet another case of Mgła worship. And while the influences are certainly not difficult to spot, Unrast never sound as though they are simply going through the motions. They have clearly studied their black metal history. Now they need to start writing a little more of their own.

"Unified In Bane" is a strong first effort from a band that, despite its obvious "inspirations", understands how to create an album that doesn't need keyboards, orchestral wallpaper or a symphony orchestra being sacrificed backstage to generate atmosphere. The guitars do most of the heavy lifting, the rhythm section keeps everything firmly on the rails, and the production gives the whole thing enough rawness without sacrificing clarity. If the guys, and the one girl, bring more of their own ideas to the table on album number two, I can easily imagine Unrast producing something that approaches true greatness. For now, they have proven one important thing: they have it "in them".

Rating: 7.8 out of 10, because Unrast haven't exactly descended from Mount Sinai with a revolutionary new set of black metal commandments. However, they know how to follow the old ones.