Album Review: Unleashed - No Sign Of Life
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
When it comes to the big names of Swedish death metal I’ve always felt that Unleashed seem to be more overlooked than other pioneering bands such as Entombed, Dismember and Grave. Unleashed have been going since 1989 and were the first death metal band to have lyrics based around Norse mythology and with their fourteenth album No Sign Of Life it is very much business as usual for the band.
If you’ve heard Unleashed before then No Sign Of Life offers up no surprises but is just a veteran death metal band at their A game producing another solid headbanger of an album. Unleashed know what works for them and stick to that formula and having maintained the same lineup since 1995 they know exactly what makes an Unleashed album tick. This is fast and straightforward death metal with a barrage of riffs and furious drumming mixed with the trademark roar of frontman Johnny Hedlund who has a very restrained but effective harsh vocal style
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There are some severely catchy tunes on offer here such as the opening duo of The King Lost His Crown and The Shepherd Has Left The Flock whilst You Are The Warrior sees the band explore more epic and atmospheric territories before flattening everything around them with the absolutely furious title track. On the second half of the album there is even more catchiness with Midgard Warriors For Life whilst album closer Here At The End Of The World closes the album with a proper headbanger of a tune.
No Sign Of Life is another very solid album in the Unleashed discography. It sees the band continue to stick with what they know and could be seen as dependable or going through the motions depending on your perspective. My only real criticism is that the album has a very clean sounding production and could have done with a bit more of that old school death metal grit to it. If you like songs about vikings and you like your death metal then you should already be a big Unleashed fan but if not this is a recommended listen.
