Unison Life by Brutus: Favorite Albums of 2022

One of my most anticipated albums of 2022 went ahead and delivered.

When you name an album one of your top albums of the year, and it’s a Belgian band that plays “post-hardcore,” called Brutus, you sound like an old-school record store clerk who is too cool for the rest of the customers.

“It’s this little-known band from Europe. You haven’t heard of them.”

I know I risk alienating the world by pumping up something that might seem such a niche, but I swear to you, Brutus could be one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Sure, rock and hard rock are niches these days, especially compared to my youth when Guns ‘N Roses dominated the culture, but they’re still pretty large niches, and this Belgian trio is notable first and foremost because of the songs. So, let’s start there. Not only did Brutus put out one of the best albums of the year, it featured one of the stand-out songs of the year, called “What Have We Done.”

Being a rock band trio that sounds too big for their members isn’t uncommon. Having a female singer isn’t uncommon. Having a female drummer isn’t that uncommon. Do you know what is uncommon? Having a hard rock drummer serve as the lead singer as well. The kind of drumming required for the technical, sometimes speedy type of hard rock that Brutus plays should preclude simultaneous singing. And what a singer. Stefanie’s vocals are soaring and pure, except when they’re teetering on the border of dirty chaos. You learn to trust her voice, but it’s almost nerve-wracking when you first listen to the band to hear the guttural accents on the way to the giant soaring vocal melodies. Like, is the note going to be there with the strain on the vocal cords necessary to deliver that crunchy power? The answer is yes. Not to overlook the rest of the trio, it is rounded out with guitar and bass that appears to be foot-fired on a pedal board and maybe a six-string hybrid bass guitar at times? Regardless, it sounds like ten people. The guitar riffs and leads are handled masterfully by Stijn Vanhoegaerden, and Peter Mulders who shouldn’t be able to sound as big as they manage to sound. It’s seriously a soundscape that defies imagination with just two people with guitars and pedals.

However they do it, the music is incredible. From front to back, Brutus delivers on Unison Life. The album opens with an atmospheric track called “Miles Away” that draws you in with delicacy and then hits you with a giant wall of distortion guitar hit. That’s called foreshadowing, friends. When I first listened to it, I got chills from the effect of it. It fades back into atmospherics so the album’s second track can blitz you with its speed and power. “Brave” flirts with break-neck speeds and half-time verses before Stefanie barks,

I wouldn't mind just blending in
It would be great to be a part of it
Another day in this cage of glass
Looking up is just too much to ask

Next up the band delivers one of their most power-poppiest choruses. The fact that the band name-checks Jimmy Eat World as a common favorite band from their youth, specifically Bleed American doesn’t seem much of a surprise. Granted, this band sounds nothing like Jimmy Eat World. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t hear the influence on the song structure and the willingness to soar into a chorus.

“What Have We Done” goes fourth and completely blows me away every time. This song has a depth and power that feels like the band at their absolute peak. It’s a song that builds into something huge, but it’s lyrics are just dripping with pain.

Once more we sing along
To this never ending song
Once more we carry on the pain
What have we done?

Could I've done more?
What if we're done?
Once more we carry on the pain
What have we done?

For too long, been dying inside
For too long
For too long I've been dying inside
For too long

It’s that combination of power and vulnerability that makes this one of the most special songs of the band’s career, from my perspective. I love every single song on this album and I could go on and on.

“Dust” is phenomenal and powerful in its own right. “Ready. Are you ready?” is the kind of lyric I hope to be screaming back at the band at a live show sometime in the next year. “Chainlife” is another powerful journey, but I’m going to skip to the end, even though I beg you not to do that when you listen to this one.

You know what we say here all the time. It’s vitally important to have a proper, strong album closer. Brutus leave nothing to chance by ending Unison Life with “Desert Rain.” It’s a nearly-seven-minute epic. It’s beautiful. It’s speedy and heavy. It’s direct and angry, and defiant.

I'm so tired of your looks right now, ah
Maybe you will get the stuff that I've learnt by now
I am so tired of your shit, right now, bye bye

Oh does it rain
Nothing is here to stay
Down with you
After you
Nevertheless I'll stay

100 million days
Some things do sink in
Down with you
After you
Nevertheless I'll stay

It’s a fitting way to end an album that’s this type of powerful journey. And for the band it signals that their previous album Nest wasn’t a fluke and that they had more to say and more great music to produce. I have no idea what the future holds for Brutus, but if the world were fair and just, this album would propel them to the ends of their musical dreams, wherever that may be.

This is a special one that I was looking forward to as much as anything released in 2022 and damn it if it didn’t stare those expectations in the face and deliver just the same.