Kaisas – Unify

Kaisas is a hard rock band formed by Greek musician Babis Kaisas and Shy/TNT vocalist Tony Mills.  The album was recorded by the three members individually as they all live in different countries.  Once recorded the album was mixed and mastered in Wolverhampton (UK) at the M2 studio, by Mark Stuart and Sheena Sear, who have previously worked with bands including Diamond head and Magnum.

Oh dear, what on earth persuaded them that a rock version of “Jingle bells” was a good idea to include on the album.  It’s a novelty song that people might play at Christmas, but who wants to hear Jingle Bells at any other time of the year.  Sorry but this really shouldn’t have been on the album. I’ve listened to the album quite a few times and every time I end up skipping most of this track.

If you buy the download version of the album rather than the CD, there is also a cover of the Dokken classic “In My Dreams”.

It’s a good melodic rock album, but the problem for me is the use of Tony Mills on vocals.  He’s a superb singer and does a great job on this album, but he’s done so many albums for different bands or projects that they start to struggle to stand out and have their own identity – they tend to be yet another Tony Mills album.  Choosing Tony Mills is a safe commercial bet, but the best music often comes from taking risks rather than just playing it safe.  I’d like to see Kaisas use a different singer for their next album and starting to make their own identity.

“Unify” is out now on Casket Music.

Rating: 7/10

Kaisas are:

Tony Mills – Vocals
Babis Kaisas – Guitars/bass
Acacio Carvalho – Drums

Track listing:

1. Sins of mankind
2. Chemistry
3. Surrender
4. Mystery man
5. Innocent cry
6. Jingle bells
7. Somewhere someplace
8. All unite
9. The whole picture
10. Take away your pain
11. That’s me
12. Rock you
13. In my dreams (digital bonus track)