Year : 2012 (Digipak Edition)
Style : Death Metal
Country : Sweden
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 140 mb
Bio:
With “Odalheim”, Swedish death metal pioneers UNLEASHED not only presented the successor of “As Yggdrasil Trembles” in the year 2012, but also continued telling their post-doomsday story, of course embedded into the Norse mythology.After the mighty world tree Yggdrasil had trembled and rung in the end of the world, Fimbul winter followed: Three years of darkness and coldness, during which Mother Nature took back what was rightfully hers. This caused the end of life as we know it.Ragnarök. But the warriors who’ve survived will build a new world out of the old one’s ashes.Right here, the story of “Odalheim” begins.With “Odalheim”, the Swedes released their eleventh studio album. Once more, the mighty line up consisting of Johnny (bass& vocals), Fredrik (lead guitar), Tomas (rhythm guitar) and Anders (drums) has created a multifarious and hymnal album in typical UNLEASHED manner. “Odalheim” was produced by Fredrik Folkare and recorded in the Swedish Chrome Studios.Re-telling the history of this legendary band shouldn’t be necessary. If it is, here’s the short version: Johnny Hexlund (bass & vocals) gathered the wild horde in 1989 after the end of the legendary underground death metal combo NIHILIST (the other band members remaining founded ENTOMBED). Since the release of the debut album “Where No Life Dwells” in 1991, UNLEASHED class among the most influential bands of the whole scene and every faithful death metal fan should have seen them live more than once, for example on tour with DEATH, MORBID ANGEL, AT THE GATES CANNIBAL CORPSE, ENTOMBED and SAMAEL, just to name a few! Nine more studio records followed and all of them made history. Special emphasis has to be put on the eternal classics – the masterpiece “Shadows In The Deep” (1992) and the glorious comeback album “Hell’s Unleashed” that followed ten years later and proved impressively that the men around Johnny Hedlund were as belligerent as ever.
Album:
It is as rare as it is great to hear a band gradually hone their craft. Most of the time, a band will improve over their first several albums until they find, quite quickly, their peak form. Generally around album three. In some cases, the debut is forever the reference release in that band's discography. Other bands just opt for a complete evolution in their sound, and neither improve nor worsen but rather migrate towards a different landscape altogether. Unleashed are one of these peculiar cases where the band remain stylistically consistent but just improve upon each release, as they were in their forties when this one came out, and it's not like they have contributed a finer aspect to their sound: this is still exactly what Unleashed has always been about. It's just better written than previous material.One of the biggest hurdles they overcame over the past couple albums - and one that most bands never do - is they managed to get rid of filler tracks. Entirely. Every single last song in this is consistent with its quality. As a track ends, the next one picks up with equal drive. And there's always that little item there every time that allows the listener to get into a particular track's specific vibe. One will appreciate there's a closer attention given to quieter acoustic guitar moments, but always cleverly added with an appreciable maturity rather than just remote clean/heavy prog-type alternating. When it isn't the acoustic bit setting the tone, it's a ravaging thrash gallop ('The Soil Of Our Fathers'), a (usually haunting) melody, or any of the many strong chorus hooks.The epic dimension takes on as much volume as it ever has. The songs sound big. And one can venture as deep as tracks 10 or 11 and still find gold there. 'Germania' has that superbly written verse that blends in so sweetly into the chorus, it's practically seamless. Dark and daunting as you like. Another thing is this is a band that, when they play a solo, actually have proper incentive to put one there and make a conscious effort to make it worthwhile. Some lovely iterations on this album, as often.Just listen to the ultimate 'The Great Battle Of Odalheim'. That two-part chorus will make an entire nursing home headbang - guaranteed. Even the dogs, the birds at the windows. 'Rise Of The Maya Warriors' is another sizeable refrain, and the vocalist's accent in Spanish is surprisingly credible for a Swede (!). One thing these guys have always known to do really well is provide a banger upon first contact: 'Fimbulwinter' and its Scandinavian sorrow will conquer many's hearts, but it's Track 3 'White Christ' that wins that category: utterly immersive sadness on the hook. And between the two, the title-track 'Odalheim' has that nasty descending-chromatic verse riff that all will retain for certain. All in all, this feels like the most accomplished Unleashed edition as of 2012.
Line Up:
Johnny Hedlund - Bass, Vocals (1989-present) - See also: ex-Nihilist
Tomas Olsson - Guitars (1990-present) - See also: Julie Laughs Nomore, ex-Hasty Death
Fredrik Folkare - Guitars (1995-present) - See also: Necrophobic, ex-Incardine, ex-Scudiero, Fireborn, ex-Siebenbürgen
Anders Schultz - Drums (1989-present) - See also: Unanimated
Tracklist:
01. Fimbulwinter 04:11
02. Odalheim 04:29
03. White Christ 03:12
04. The Hour of Defeat 03:08
05. Gathering the Battalions 03:06
06. Vinland 03:58
07. Rise of the Maya Warriors 02:40
08. By Celtic and British Shores 03:49
09. The Soil of Our Fathers 04:55
10. Germania 03:33
11. The Great Battle of Odalheim 05:51
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
