Production: Murky yet congealed, and obscure without obstructing sound. Minimal separation between instruments isolates drums and preserves the tightness of this band.

Review: In the hands of Unleashed the heavy-handed antiprog rock of Venom becomes an exercise in the rhythms and textures of the battlefield in musical form, meaning that simple and direct death metal makes here an engaging and thunderous art form that is often enlightening in its demonstration of the persistence of simplicity.

While very little to distinguish this music from many others in the style occurs the combinations of melodic fragment and rhythm that is each unique song remain distinct enough that confusing them with another the work of another band is unlikely. With an uncanny ability to perfect feline rhythmic conversions like a speed metal band, Unleashed also never fail to satisfy the dancelike violence of excellent metal.

Tracklist:

1. The Final Silence (2:55)
2. The Immortals (4:23)
3. A Life Beyond (4:49)
4. Shadows in the Deep (5:02)
5. Countess Bathory (4:02)
6. Never Ending Hate (2:33)
7. Onward into Countless Battles (4:15)
8. Crush the Skull (3:36)
9. Bloodbath (4:09)
10. Land of Ice (4:32)

Length: 40:18

Copyright © 1992 Century Media

Death metal vocals that dry even the listener's throat accompany the strict rhythms of marching to war, a motif among other strong iconographies to this music. Its finesse is not in its delicacy, but in its finding a vocal definition of each idea it encompasses. This focus delivers us from music that lets up for an instant, and allows a good deal of inventiveness within a well-defined genre.

• Unleashed - Where No Life Dwells (1991)

• Unleashed - Shadows in the Deep (1992)

• Unleashed - Across the Open Sea (1993)