Album Review: Unleashed - Dawn Of The Nine

Unleashed were always the black sheep of the Swedish death metal scene.

They didn’t record at Sunlight Studios and never bothered with the buzzsaw sound of the Boss HM-2 heavy metal pedal, or for that matter gore-filled lyrics. Instead they offered up tales of Viking lore and a clean, surgical death metal assault. Twenty-five years later and not much has changed on album #12. Here there’s a mix of mid-tempo thumpers (Defenders Of Midgard, The Bolt Thrower) and blistering speed workouts (Where Churches Once Burned), all boasting Johnny Hedlund’s distinctive growl and Thor-friendly themes.