Customer Reviews

Where No Life Dwells (+ Bonus)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Early Unleashed tried to take death metal somewhere it had not yet gone: pure, evocative, catchy rhythm that flowered late in song into a more complex structure (the definitive example is "Land of Ice" off of their second album, "Shadows in the Deep").

Like Asphyx and Malevolent Creation, Unleashed keep most of their songs circular in song structure, and later on burst out riffs that develop on the themes presented earlier. It's like coming to the top of a mountain and then seeing the valley below stretch before you.

As most of you probably know, the two original Swedish death metal bands were Carnage and Nihilist. From Nihilist came Entombed and Unleashed, reformed with new personnel; from Carnage came Dismember. Add Therion, At the Gates and Unleashed to that list, and you have the definitive Swedish death metal experience.

Unleashed remains unique in that their music has from a very early time attempted to be simple but melodically beautiful while rhythmically aggressive yet hookish, making it sound very much like what Vikings would sing as they rowed on to their next raid. Like those ancient warriors, this music is full of fond dreams of mayhem, slaughter and rapine, but puts them in a context of a natural cycle like the change of seasons.

The result is easy to listen to but takes some effort to really pull out all that's going on here because it's so stripped-down. They rarely use a single rhythm, encoding polyrhythms in their tremolo picking and internal counterpoint in drumming, and while you get carried away by the ocean-like rhythms, plenty goes on inside these deceptively simple songs. I recommend this to anyone who like death metal, but especially to fans of Asphyx and Sinister.

I was just getting into death metal in 1991, thanks to a college radio show I hosted ("Ear Pain") and Century Media, a record label eager to send me promo copies of their bands' latest CDs.

I have to admit that I didn't really get death metal at first. It seemed to me how my thrash metal favorites must sound to the people who told me it was just noise, or that it all sounded the same. Then I heard Unleashed's Where No Life Dwells, and it clicked.

While a number of the tracks *do* sounds fairly similar, listening to death metal and black metal from throughout the 90s, this is one album that still stands out as being fairly musical, and even catchy. The songs that stand out for me over and over again are:

Where No Life Dwells (intro)
Dead Forever
For They Shall be Slain
Into Glory Ride
Violent Ecstasy

Most people may say that this is an average death cd.I thought it was pretty cool and the songs were pretty catchy.The band is not very fast or heavy but still delivers quality songs.Stand out tracks are before the creation of time and into glory ride.I would recommend this cd to anyone with an interest in the band or death in general.METAL RULES!!!

"Where No Life Dwells" arguably contains one of the first viking-themed death metal tunes "Into Glory Ride." Notice I said DEATH METAL, not black metal, because Quorthon from Bathory had them beat to the punch by a few years. This song is pretty much indicative of the Unleashed style--they just keep it simple in the guitar/bass/drum department and focus on writing catchy, 3-5 minute death metal songs that are constructed well and feature Johnny Hedlund's raspy take on death metal vocals. The songs cover the usual death, darkness, anti-religion sentiment that almost all Swedish bands were into at the time. There is not a lot of downtuned guitar thrashing going on, and Unleashed seem to keep some traditional metal and doom mixed in their music, but make no mistake, this is a death metal album. "Dead Forever" "Unleashed" and "Before the Creation of Time" are all standout tracks. Recommended purchase.

I always thought Unleashed sounded unique compared to the other Swedish "Masters of Death," Entombed, Grave, and Dismember. Not that they're better, but I could hear more similarities among the other three than with Unleashed. They never went for the buzzsaw sound, opting for a cleaner guitar tone that is no less heavy. Their melodies also differ, as they have a sorrowful, melancholic quality; Dismember features an NWOBHM sensibility, while Entombed and Grave use melody sparingly. And Unleashed, of course, is the only of those four bands to utilize Viking imagery, something bands like Amon Amarth have taken influence from and found even greater success with. The songs on this debut from Unleashed are very solid, offering a variety of catchy, groove-infused death riffs and faster, more traditional brutality. They stand out individually with memorable riffs and lyrics that make each track its own, and emphasize a power metal mentality that other Swedish death metal acts didn't. Anyone who likes death metal from this era should like Where No Life Dwells, and would probably look for more Unleashed albums after hearing it.

The re-issue that includes And the Laughter Has Died can be challenging to find in good condition at a decent price, but it's a great product. Besides the demo tracks, it has new liner notes by Johnny Hedlund, full cover art for the album and the Laughter Has Died demo, and large thumbnails of all Unleashed album covers up through Warrior, including the tough-to-find Live in Vienna and Eastern Blood Hail to Poland. I also like the front cover design, and generally think these Century Media two-in-one combos were done well. The ones for Unleashed, anyway, are excellent.

This is Unleashed's debut album and it contains 11 songs of pure death metal. It's recorded at Woodhouse studios in Germany, which is quite weird because in the early 90s all swedish bands recorded their albums in Sunlight Studios. Reason for this could be that Unleashed are on Century Media and Centuruy Media uses Waldemar Sorychta and Woodhouse Studios. I say that this average debut album. It do not offer anything special just Death.