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Unleashed - Odalheim

Published April 23 2012


*
=Staff's pick

Fimbulwinter*
Odalheim
White Christ
The Hour Of Defeat
Gathering The Battalions
Vinland*
Rise Of The Maya Warriors
By Celtic And British Shores
The Soil Of Our Fathers
Germania
The Great Battle Of Odalheim


Genre Death Metal
Johnny Hedlund
Vocals
Tracks 11
Tomas Olsson
Guitar
Running time 43 Min.
Fredrik Folkare
Guitar
Label Nuclear Blast
Johnny Hedlund
Bass
Release 20 April 2012
Anders Schultz
Drums
Country Sweden
-
Keyboard
Producer Fredrik Folkare
Similar artists Amon Amarth

Odalheim is the eleventh album from Swedish death metal band Unleashed. It is a concept album following up the story from the preceding album, As Yggdrasil Trembles, about the aftermath of the end of the world and the building of the new world, Odalheim.

The songs are what you would expect; focused around pretty simple choruses and with the usual lyrical themes - "We are the warriors of Midgard", "Raise your hammers", "Ride into battle" etcetera. The first track, Fimbulwinter, stands out with riffs that sound a lot more black metal than we're used to, influences that can be heard throughout the album.

One song that stands out is Rise Of The Maya Warriors - not because it's musically deviant but it feels really, really strange to hear Johnny growling things like "Sierra Madre Occidental" and "Central America arise!".

Odalheim isn't a bad album but it fails to capture my interest. There are barely any memorable riffs, the guitar solos are nothing special, Johnny's singing is boring and the drumming sounds a little lazy at times. While I don't suffer when listening to the album, there isn't really anything special about it. The second I turn it off, it's out of my mind. Then again, Unleashed has never been my favourite band from the Swedish death metal scene although the first two albums are pretty good. If you really like them, or stuff like Amon Amarth, maybe you should give this album a chance and make up your own opinion.

See also review of: As Yggdrasil Trembles , Hell's Unleashed

Performance
Originality
Production
Vocals
Songwriting

4

3

5

4

4

 
Summary



4 chalices of 10 - Bjorn


Related links:

www.unleashed.se
www.myspace.com/unleashed
www.facebook.com/unleashed