Artist: Unify Separate
Title: Heavy Meta
Genre: Electro Pop / Synth Pop
Release Date: 11th April 2025
Label: Self-released
Album Review
Fancy a therapy session on the dance-floor? Then UNIFY SEPARATE is exactly what you’re looking for. On ‘Heavy Meta’, the Swedish-Scottish duo transforms personal crises into grand Pop gestures - without ever slipping into cliché. Andrew Montgomery and Leo Josefsson pull off the feat of making introspection danceable and combining emotional depth with stylistic sharpness. They take us on an intense journey through emotional borderlands, delivering exactly the kind of material that fuels dark dance-floor nights and introspective headphone moments: dramatic Synth-Pop that pulls no punches, compelling honesty wrapped in atmospherically dense electronics.
‘Dark Heaven’ opens the EP with a sensual plunge into the depths - a bittersweet invitation into a parallel universe of devotion and self-abandonment. The dark euphoria of the song is full of ambivalence - between lust and loss, control and surrender. ‘Dark Heaven’ is not a safe place, but a state of intoxication in which the self willingly disappears. The constant repetition of “Take me with you” sounds like a mantra of addiction. The opener feels like a seductive high on the brink of self-destruction, carried by Andrew Montgomery’s compelling vocals and a sound where classic 80s Synth-Pop meets modern depth - dark, sexy, danceable, and dangerously beautiful. As an opener, ‘Dark Heaven’ does exactly what it should, providing the perfect entry point into a dark inner world.
With ‘Detox’, we move from temptation to confrontation. Rawer and edgier in sound, the electronically punky track rips open old wounds only to consciously cleanse them. This is about brutal self-confrontation. “Don’t believe everything you think” - this sentence sums up the theme of cognitive self-cleansing. No metaphor goes unused, no sentence sounds accidental. It’s about extracting the poison - mentally, emotionally, sonically. With each repetition, it becomes clearer: pain is part of the healing process, not the end. The cathartic energy in the song is almost physically palpable. While ‘Dark Heaven’ celebrates retreat into a toxic fantasy, ‘DETOX’ is the brutal morning after.
‘Gaslighted’ is perhaps the angriest moment on ‘Heavy Meta’ - but also the clearest. Here, it gets personal and political at the same time. The song describes the grinding feeling of losing trust in one’s own perception through manipulation. It’s not just about toxic relationships, but about the manipulation of one’s own reality. Particularly strong is the transition from self-doubt (“I need to know I’m not fucked up”) to clear anger (“Your problem is you”). The song rises with great synth force to become an electronic protest anthem - epic and dark. The synth pads feel oppressive, almost claustrophobic. It builds into a chorus that burns itself into your brain like a mantra against confusion (“Gaslighted again”). After the self-cleansing in ‘DETOX’, the conflict is externalised here: the pain has a counterpart. The clarity that was previously hard-won becomes resistance.
And what comes after the outcry? A resigned, repetitive echo of the previous disappointments. ‘Excuses Excuses’ reduces the theme to its monotonous foundations - with a dragging beat and hypnotic repetition. The constant invocation of excuses feels like a loop of realisation and exhaustion. Yet by the end, a consoling thought breaks through: “There’s refuge in a dream”. Sonically, ‘Excuses Excuses’ feels more minimal than the previous tracks, almost hypnotic. The beats are deep, dragging - the song breathes anger and fatigue in equal measure. After the self-doubt in ‘Gaslighted’, ‘Excuses Excuses’ feels like a cynical afterthought - as if the lyrical self is not only judging others but also itself. Where ‘Gaslighted’ was loud, this track is quiet, reduced, but no less intense. Hope is now just a fleeting flicker.
‘Return to Exile’ closes the circle - but not as a happy ending, rather as a retreat. It’s not a reconciliation, but a decision, not a return to love, but to autonomy. Exile becomes the final consequence - not as escape, but as self-chosen distance. “Away from you” it says at the end, meaning: not forgetting, but leaving. Emotional retreat as an act of liberation. A farewell that no longer seeks reconciliation. A dark ballad, starting quietly and slowly building. Andrew Montgomery carries the message across every octave, while Leo Josefsson echoes it back distorted into the void. The final curtain falls quietly.
‘Heavy Meta’ is a dense emotional trip, an electronic reckoning that shows where it hurts. Between sensual escapism, ruthless introspection, and final self-assertion, it unfolds an emotional panorama that’s as danceable as it is profound. For anyone who prefers dancing with their darkness rather than repress it, this is a small masterpiece - straight from the psyche to the dance-floor. Emotional - and right on point.
‘Heavy Meta’ is available on all major streaming platforms from 11th April. The duo is also planning a physical release further down the line. For now, Andrew and Leo are focusing on their next EP, titled ‘The God Particle’, and are considering combining both for a future physical release. But first, it’s time to hit the stage. UNIFY SEPARATE will perform at this year’s Amphi Festival (Cologne) in July and share the stage with Swedish Synth prophets PRIEST in Jönköping (Sweden) this August.
Tracklist
01. Dark Heaven
02. DETOX
03. Gaslighted
04. Excuses Excuses
05. Return to Exile
Line-up
Andrew Montgomery - Vocals
Leo Josefsson - Keyboards, Vocals
Website
https://www.unifyseparate.com / https://www.facebook.com/usmusicspace
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 10
Sound: 10
Total: 10 / 10
