Unified Past - Shifting The Equilibrium (2015)

US act UNIFIED PAST was formed back in 1999. The roots of the band go back to the early 80's, when Stephen SPEELMAN and Victor TASSONE started working together in various band projects, and then formed their own in 1990. This band, named Labyrinth, were active throughout the 1990's, and released three full length albums.

By 1999 the band had become a rather different project, lead by Speelman (guitars, drums) with Vinny KRIVACSY (keyboards, vocals), Peter PALMIERI (bass) and Matthew WOOD (drums) making up the rest of the band. They were approached by indie label Atomik Records, who signed the band. The band decided that a new name was in order at this time, and their old moniker LABYRINTH was replaced with UNIFIED PAST at this point. Later the same year their first album under this new name followed in the shape of "From the Splintered Present Surfaces", a collection of re-recorded old material alongside a few new pieces.

The band went into hiatus as recording artists following this production, but in 2008 UNIFIED PAST returned to the scene with the album "Power of Existence". This time around sporting two of the members from their LABYRINTH days, Steve CALOVI (vocals) and Victor TASSONE (drums) alongside SPEELMAN, with a guest appearance by keyboardist KRIVACSY. What the future holds in store for this veteran act time will obviously have to tell. Their return to the scene has been met with positive acclaim, which might herald this latest album release as the start of a new lease of life for UNIFIED PAST rather than being an epilogue to a long and eventful history.

Following the release of "Tense", UNIFIED PAST sign with Melodic Revolution Records and release in 2011 the album "Observations", continuing as a trio (TASSONE, SPEELMAN, KRIVACSY). In 2013, the second release through the same label follows, entitled "Spots", while Dave MICKELSON has picked up the bass duties and KRIVACSY is no longer on board.

~ Prog Archives