The freshly imagined Unum starts and ends in essentially the same way. The soundscape for opening track “Tempest” fades in with one note like it’s revving up for a chorus of guitars, while closing track “A Thousand Armies,” after exploding into one last instrumental jam break, has its final guitar chord prolonged, slowed down and fading. Both are over six minutes of pure guitar-rock alchemy, powering on a fuzzy and electric sonic realm somewhere between glam metal and psychedelic rock, all in a dreamy, atmospheric haze.
One of the newer Iowa outfits, the Davenport-based Lady Igraine clearly knows and loves the rock music landscape. I don’t use that description lightly; the rock genre is one of the most broad musical umbrellas, hard to pin down and even harder to capture in the modern music space.
Self-described as “ambient psychedelia” and “punk soul rebellion,” one could argue the band — with its six-string bass and a multi-neck guitar straight out of ’80s glam rock novelty — covers a lot more subgenre ground, with each song serving a different sound from the storied history of rock.
“Tempest” and “A Thousand Armies” will satisfy those seeking ’80s glam metal energies, ripe with anthemic hooks, balancing the theatrical with a harder edge of exploding guitars and growling vocals. This guitar sound deftly switches genre in “Barnstorm,” where reverbed guitars and cowbell-esque beats show glimpses of outlaw cowboy — if said cowboy wielded guitars and chain mail. “Scorched Earth” flirts with surf rock with quirky, deeply retro pedal effects, while “Flame in the Wind” hits sonic temperatures that lean toward ’70s groove rock.
Mixing a vast array of throwback genres that give glimmers of everything from country to disco with a metal and prog-rock sound feels innovative and provides a listening experience hard to describe — a cosmic kaleidoscope of sound.
The lyrics, sprinkled among voyaging instrumental solos, often read like a Middle English poem, declarative and pondering. “Break my heart, tear it asunder, smite it with thunder / I will still hold a piece,” the most reflective track, “Someday,” declares. As with the instrumentation, it’s purposeful — the band’s namesake, Lady Igraine, is the mother of King Arthur of medieval legend, and the album title Unum often appears in medieval philosophies on states of beings, the Transcendental “One.”
The Middle Age mysticism and folk heroes also appear in its musical flourishes, too, with dueling guitar riffs and the push-and-pull of genre. The battles are fought (maybe won, maybe not), and as drums crash and vocals snarl, day breaks on a well-constructed universe for Lady Igraine to rule. Just as “Tempest” faded in, “A Thousand Armies” powers down. Lady Igraine lives to fight another day, another album eagerly awaited down the road.
This article was originally published in Little Village’s February 2025 issue.
