Post by thesoundmonitor on Sept 11, 2004 21:20:10 GMT -5
UNLEASHED
Sworn Allegiance
(Century Media)
A few often repeated facts: Unleashed are back with their 7th album. It celebrates their 15 years in the music industry with their current line-up. It follows up 2002’s Hells Unleashed. Their vocalist was in a band, which, after leaving Unleashed, went on to become another band some of you may know - Entombed.
OK so, as you can tell, Unleashed play a brand of traditional Swedish styled death metal that could easily have been released when the band first formed. The ethos of “play as fast as you can melding each song into one another in the name of brutality” was not the focus of that genre and nor is it the focus of Unleashed. Their main intent is to combine as much hook and rhythm into each track as possible. Check out ‘Destruction (of the Race of Men)’ or ’I Bring You Death’ for some of the catchiest most toe-tapping (if you can tap that fast!) riffs I have ever heard.
Some of the riffs sound more like black metal with their constant ‘humm’ sound (‘Destruction…’) as opposed to a death metal chug but that’s fine and works well. A lot of the songs on Sworn Allegiance have guitar solos also adding to that traditional metal feeling.
Most of the tracks on this album are fast paced tracks that can keep your interest and although variety is the spice of life, I kind of wish the band would keep things at this pace as it’s usually the slower tracks like ‘One Night in Nazareth’ where I drift off. My interest however is ALWAYS ripped back to the speedier tracks like “Helljoy’.
There are two main complaints I have about this album. The first and more trifle is that there are 14 songs on here. Perhaps a few should have been culled in order to maintain interest (although the album is only 45 minutes).
The second is the lyrical content of some of the songs. Some of the lyrics are puerile or at least jokes that I don’t really find that funny. The main focus is on Viking mythology but it is when they stray from these topics that I start to lose interest. Necrophilia might be funny on… well somewhere, but I lose interest during ‘Only the Dead’. ‘The Longships Are Coming’ is marred by repetitive lyrics and I found myself losing interest almost every listen during this track. Finally, I love cheese and the bands tribute to their fans, ‘Metalheads’, is not a bad effort at all.
Overall this is exactly what you would expect from Unleashed. Sworn Allegiance won’t win this vastly overlooked band any new fans but it does put them back in the game after a slightly disappointing previous album.
By Paul Irwin
www.unleashed.nu
Sworn Allegiance
(Century Media)
A few often repeated facts: Unleashed are back with their 7th album. It celebrates their 15 years in the music industry with their current line-up. It follows up 2002’s Hells Unleashed. Their vocalist was in a band, which, after leaving Unleashed, went on to become another band some of you may know - Entombed.
OK so, as you can tell, Unleashed play a brand of traditional Swedish styled death metal that could easily have been released when the band first formed. The ethos of “play as fast as you can melding each song into one another in the name of brutality” was not the focus of that genre and nor is it the focus of Unleashed. Their main intent is to combine as much hook and rhythm into each track as possible. Check out ‘Destruction (of the Race of Men)’ or ’I Bring You Death’ for some of the catchiest most toe-tapping (if you can tap that fast!) riffs I have ever heard.
Some of the riffs sound more like black metal with their constant ‘humm’ sound (‘Destruction…’) as opposed to a death metal chug but that’s fine and works well. A lot of the songs on Sworn Allegiance have guitar solos also adding to that traditional metal feeling.
Most of the tracks on this album are fast paced tracks that can keep your interest and although variety is the spice of life, I kind of wish the band would keep things at this pace as it’s usually the slower tracks like ‘One Night in Nazareth’ where I drift off. My interest however is ALWAYS ripped back to the speedier tracks like “Helljoy’.
There are two main complaints I have about this album. The first and more trifle is that there are 14 songs on here. Perhaps a few should have been culled in order to maintain interest (although the album is only 45 minutes).
The second is the lyrical content of some of the songs. Some of the lyrics are puerile or at least jokes that I don’t really find that funny. The main focus is on Viking mythology but it is when they stray from these topics that I start to lose interest. Necrophilia might be funny on… well somewhere, but I lose interest during ‘Only the Dead’. ‘The Longships Are Coming’ is marred by repetitive lyrics and I found myself losing interest almost every listen during this track. Finally, I love cheese and the bands tribute to their fans, ‘Metalheads’, is not a bad effort at all.
Overall this is exactly what you would expect from Unleashed. Sworn Allegiance won’t win this vastly overlooked band any new fans but it does put them back in the game after a slightly disappointing previous album.
By Paul Irwin
www.unleashed.nu