Review: Sweet and Lynch- Unified

When I first realized I was reviewing the new Sweet & Lynch disc Unified I was very excited to do so. After all, the first album, entitled Only to Rise was an extremely good first offering and having George Lynch and Michael Sweet both on an album is pretty exciting. The album starts out extremely strong with “Promised Land.” It’s a modern day hard rocker that has become a staple of both of the extremely talented players involved. “Walk” and “Make Your Mark” could have been on the last couple of Stryper albums. While the trippy bass and far out chorus of “Afterlife” takes you on a little ride. You get a little nod to old school Journey on “Tried & True” and the massive chorus in title track “Unified” is a shining example of what killer melodic rock sounds like. From here on out the record gets a little hit and miss in my opinion. There’s nothing really great about “Find Your Way”, “Live to Die” or “Heart of Fire” but, “Bridge of Broken Lies” is a slow bluesy based rocker with some scorching solos in it. Elsewhere, if you insert Oni Logan’s voice on “Better Man” you’d have an absolutely brilliant Lynch Mob song. Here’s the bottom line- While this album did have a few really killer tracks it was missing something that I couldn’t put my finger on. Listen to it for yourself and you decide. Rating: 6/10 -Eric Hunker