by Heather Phares

Unida's debut album Coping with the Urban Coyote marks a sharp musical turn for singer/songwriter/guitarist John Garcia, toward straight-ahead hard rock and away from his artier work in Kyuss and Slo Burn. Songs like "Thorn" and "Blackwoman" are loud, propulsive rock excursions, featuring Garcia's emotive, classic-rock singing, and only the relatively gentle finale "You Wish" sees Unida vary from the tried-and-true hard rock formula.