Klub Life Magazine 

The Beautiful Unknown—March 3 at the Drake

During the international showcase at the Drake Hotel for CMW, Toronto band The Beautiful Unknown were a little stumped as to how they made it onto the lineup. "I'm from the 905," vocalist Tom Barlow said, "I think that qualifies me." But although they didn't fit in with the night's theme, the four-piece made every effort to entertain.

The Beautiful Unknown were the very image of mod rock in their matching black attire. They gave the punters a taste of the Beatle- influenced rock that will be on their album coming out in the summer, starting with the song, "Spinning In My Grave." With Barlow's sultry voice, which sounds like a mix of Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos, and Derek Downham's crazed playing on both the drums and guitar, the band impressed throughout their short 30-minute set. During "Riot in the House of Ruin," Downham was playing so fiercely he looked like he was going to break all of the strings of his guitar. They finished the set with a pounding version of "No Getting Through to You." The Beautiful Unknown's catchy songs and great live show will ensure they will be a prominent feature of the Toronto music scene.

PeteNema.com 

Will The Beautiful Unknown be able to keep their name once they become widely known? That is the question I pondered on the way home from The Beautiful Unknown's video release party Friday night at The Silver Dollar Room. The new video that was at the centre of the celebration is for the track Spinning In My Grave. Before the band took the stage and played a very well received set, the video was introduced and played on a big "screen" (a white sheet).

With lots of friends and fans in the audience, and a load of complimentary Jägermeister shots distributed among them, there was plenty of excitement among the crowd. The excitement was proven to be well justified, friends and Jägermeister aside. 

Truth Explosion Magazine 

Much like the NXNE festival, I have a love/hate relationship with CMW which breaks down as simply as I love them because they are a yearly in-your-face reminder of just how much talent Canada produces that doesn't necessarily get as much attention as it deserves, and I hate them because I don't get to see even a tenth as many of the bands playing as I would like due to inconvenient timing and more importantly, the lack of an expenses account suitable for total coverage. 

This of course, wouldn't be stopping me this year. As long as one remembers that they are always no more than a well placed promoter friend away from the show one wants to see, cash should never be an issue. Of course, having your editors CMW press pass doesn't hurt either. Small assurances as such go a long way when you're planning on covering a band that very well could be blowing up and laying waste to a town near you sometime soon. My money was already on 2006 as the year of The Beautiful Unknown. 

Calvin Daniels

Yorkton This Week newspaper Oct. 15, 2008 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

7-out-of-10 

Coming at us out of Toronto in the alternative/rock/garage band The Beautiful Unknown, and true to their description this band is a rock unit at heart, with just a few twists mixed in. So what does that mean? Well maybe it's easiest to look at some of the band's influences; The Doors, David Bowie, The Yardbirds, The Beatles, Go-Go Girls, and Queens of the Stone Age. Mix these diverse sounds together and you get an idea where The Beautiful Unknown comes from.For example, Spinning In My Grave has a sort of '50's feel, while Undertow is much more the 1980s. Yes this Toronto-based band borrows from several decades in terms of underlying sound.Tom Barlow is the vocalist here, and he does a solid job, and the musical style here requires a good voice since it has to carry the lyrics well.The quartet is rounded out by Derek Downham on percussion, Kirt Godwin on guitar and Ryan Gavel on bass. Although none stand out as the next great musician, as a unit they come across pretty solid.Overall this is accessible rock. Heavy enough to be real rock, yet not buried under a wall of screams rendering the lyrics lost without the liner notes to read.There are a few very good songs here, in particular The Hating, which begs for a video and airplay.She Knows, Feed The Hole and Cruelty are all strong too.For a debut CD effort, Riot In The House Of Ruin is a pretty fair calling card into the world of rock for The Beautiful Unknown.