During the period leading up to the release of ‘Union Gives Strength’, Galneryus consistently referred to the release as a “special album” in marketing outings. So what’s so special about it? They probably did not want to give the impression that it’s one hour plus of new material, as roughly twelve minutes of its hour-long runtime are taken up by two remakes. But to me, what makes ‘Union Gives Strength’ a special album is the simple fact that it is their greatest release in a long time. The overall sound is a bit darker than the average Galneryus release, but that works in the album’s favor.

Superficially, ‘Union Gives Strength’ is a rather typical Galneryus album. The melodies and song structures are, as always, firmly rooted in European power metal traditions, Masatoshi Ono’s vocals are as soaring as always and guitarist Syu once again throws all the fast runs he can at it, while always sounding surprisingly emotional in his phrasing. There are just a few little touches that set the material apart. The use of seven-string guitars occasionally brings the darker material of their criminally underrated ‘Reincarnation’ album to mind and the progressive metal factor is turned up to eleven during most of the middle sections.

While the remakes of ‘Everlasting’ and ‘Deep Affection’ are decent enough, if a bit unnecessary, ‘Union Gives Strength’ is ultimately worth getting for the forty-six minutes of excellent original material. This is where the “special album” moniker comes in. There are only six original songs on ‘Union Gives Strength’, but three of those are around the nine-minute mark. Particularly these three long tracks are nothing short of amazing, but ‘Bleeding Sanity’ manages to wrap the darker power metal character of the release into five minutes. Only ‘Hold On’ is a bit more positive and almost feels like a more proggy take on ‘Wings’ from the ‘Alsatia / Cause Disarray’ EP.

Opening track ‘The Howling Darkness’ immediately sold me on ‘Union Gives Strength’. After a brooding intro, we are treated to one of the heaviest Galneryus tracks since the departure of original singer Yama-B, with the riffing and rhythms in the pre-chorus even leaning towards death metal. The following ‘Flames Of Rage’ – possibly the most Galneryus song title that doesn’t contain the word “flag” ever – is fast, more traditional power metal, but retains the dark, dramatic undercurrent. ‘See The Light Of Freedom’ is built upon a typical Galneryus riff and combines the darkness with more hopeful sections. The chord progression in the chorus of ‘Whatever It Takes (Raise Our Hands!)’ has been done to death by the band, but in the context of the album, it works quite well as a relatively upbeat closing chapter.

After the subpar ‘Into The Purgatory’, I was a bit apprehensive about ‘Union Gives Strength’, but everyone who enjoys Galneryus’ high-octane melodic power metal will find something to like about the album. The sound is a million times better than that on its overly dry-sounding predecessor, but in the end, ‘Union Gives Strength’ simply has the most consistent set of Galneryus songs in a decade. Possibly longer. ‘The Howling Darkness’ is easily the band’s best opener since ‘The Promised Flag’ and everyone, including new drummer Lea, is at the top of their game performance-wise. A must-have for fans of the type of power metal that isn’t made at this level in Europe all that often anymore.

Recommended tracks: ‘The Howling Darkness’, ‘Flames Of Rage’, ‘Bleeding Sanity’

 

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