Although AC/DC and Motorhead have been putting out basically the same album over and over for 30 years, fans of these two bands never blamed them for not being different.
Instead the audience continues to cherish this phenomenon, as this straightforward, wild and raw music style is the trademark of these bands. Risen from rock music and propelled by underground metal, this kind of music stands for the desire of liberation, freedom and simplicity in this plastic world. It will never go out of time.
In the realm of death metal, there is a band which greatly influenced by AC/DC and Motorhead also has a constant style of music. This band is Unleashed.
Unleashed was formed after the disbanding of Nihilist. Unlike the other key figures Entombed and Carnage whose members were in Nihilist, Unleashed brought the roadhouse rock style of AC/DC and Motorhead into death metal. However as a death metal band, Unleashed has more creative ideas than the old classics. You can tell that by just looking at the names and covers of their albums, each one is as exciting to look forward to as a new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The scent of fighting in their music also demonstrates that death metal ponders on our existences in world.
The mystic and adventurous sense of Unleashed comes from the extension of the typical “verse-chorus-bridge-verse-chorus” structure the phrasal riffs of death metal. Under an emphasized theme, each phrasal riff acts like a puzzle and combine into an epic scenery. Therefore Unleashed’s musics are richer and more narrative comparing to AC/DC and Motorhead (Before the Victory which completely lost all apprehension of mysticism). To the fans of AC/CD, Motorhead who also enjoy underground metal, do not miss Unleashed.
Translated from this post.
Tags: death metal, Heavy Metal, Unleashed
I wouldn’t agree with this article. Unleashed basically made 2 hastily made inferior versions of their debut that have virtually no staying power compared to Where No Life Dwells (although Shadows in the Deep was half filler, it had some cool songs). They tried to broaden their sound after, with death n roll stuff like Victims of War or Warrior, and now, they put black metal chords in their music too. They’re just doing simpler, broader reaching versions of the first album. It could be worse, like when Slayer takes an old riff and removes a note or replaces it with another, to create “new” riffs on every album they’ve done since after Seasons (just skip to the fast parts on their later albums, sound familiar?). It’s like if Carcass kept releasing a Reek of Putrefaction part 2. It won’t be as obviously bad as a Mike Amott Shrapnel Records masturbation fest, but it’s a different kind of boredom: you’ve heard all these song styles and lyrics before. Why bother having them re-iterated (nostalgia maybe)? It’s not like General Surgery or the inferior (but quite inventine if a bit overpraised, by this site too) Pathologist, for example, who uses the style as a medium to communicate a different experience.
Hello Bitterman. I see your level of orthodoxy and intransigence is even higher than most DLA guys, which is cool! However I’m pretty sure you could contribute to a higher quality of comments than what you’re currentlydoing.
It’d be sad if you would fall prey to the same short comings that
Unleashed suffered, which is making multiple variations of the same original comment or idea.
.
I’m not saying you’re making the same
comment over and over again, I’m saying you could do better than that ;)
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It would be cool if Brett would give you the chance to be part of the Staff, to do one or two reviews. So why don’t you Brett??
Why don’t both of you email me? editor @ the current domain.
I thought the comparison to AC/DC was accurate given that Unleashed have steadily become more like AC/DC since their debut. Like most death metal bands, they should drop the vocals and start treating it like a job writing pop songs in a minor key with masculine, warlike beats and complex lead guitar. That’s what people love heavy metal for. It’s dark, it’s powerful, it’s intense. At least a lot more intense than our cube mcjobs and plastic apartments.
I would love to see a bitterman article!
As for Unleashed… eh, Like an Everflowing Stream is pretty much the only traditional Swedish DM album I need.
You deny early Therion, At the Gates and Carnage?
Notice I said “traditional” swedish death metal. Beyond Sanctorum and TRITSIO are personal favorites, but don’t fit into the style laid out by Nihilist/Entombed, even though they may be influenced by it.
As for Carnage, I’ll admit to not having listened to them in a while, but being a bit too simple for my tastes.