Unchained is a rock band organized in Busan, Korea, in 2001. It consists of 3
members, Gwang-il Kim (vocals, guitar), Jun-won Park (guitar) and Gyu-sung Choi
(bass). Based on Seattle Grunge sound, especially inspired by Alice in Chains,
Sound Garden, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, the band focuses on relationships
and the inner side of human beings in a heavy, gloomy, psychedelic, lyrical sound.
As the name ‘Un-chained’ implies, they aim at ‘not being in any boundaries’ or
‘being released through music’, and in reality, they have been recording and
producing albums by themselves in their own independent label, ‘Ginger Records’
founded in 2006, still keeping up their belief out of the mainstream.
In 2005, they released their EP [Push Me], followed by the first official album
[Thorn] in 2014. The theme of this album is inspired by ‘porcupine dilemma’ of
the German philosopher ‘Schopenhauer’, and they sing various stories about
‘thorns’ spreading all over the human relationships, which symbolizes loneliness,
lies, hurts, temptations and desires, and even a dilemma of being a socially
wantable human character, in their unique deep-heavy sound. This album was
favorably received by public and critics, and nominated for the best album of the
year in 2015 Korean Music Awards.
