Band:	Unleashed
Album:	Midvinterblot
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	October 09, 2006
A review by:	Jeff

01. Blood Of Lies
02. This Is Our World Now
03. We Must Join With Him
04. Midvinterblot
05. In Victory Or Defeat
06. Triumph Of Genocide
07. The Avenger
08. Salvation For Mankind
09. Psycho Killer
10. The Witch
11. I Have Sworn Allegiance
12. Age Of The Warrior
13. New Dawn Rising
14. Loyalty And Pride
15. Valhalla Awaits

With Entombed, Unleashed is in my opinion one of these few Swedish Death Metal bands which is able to play real good Melodic Death. And here, I'm not talking about Gothenburg Metal, no, I'm just talking about people who know how to play real Death without forgetting great melodies. If the last albums of the combo were not so amazing (without being bad however of course) I can tell you that we will all remember the year 2006 like the real return of Unleashed to its maximum. My friends, the "riff machine" is back?

Like the famous Swedish controversial painting by Carl, Larsson which uses the same name, and which represents the sacrifice of a Swedish king to ensure the prosperity and survival of his people "Midvinterblot" is one more time inspired by Nordic mythologies. If you like stories about Odin, be sure that you will like to read those lyrics, though never forget too that the band is also extremely skilful to use metaphoric sentences?

Musically speaking, Unleashed is still a great "riff-machine", a band which is just able to write incredible riffs that will stay in your mind for ever. It's simple all the songs of "Midvinterblot" are catchy as hell and they all have those kind of melodies perfectly created to headbang. In general, the rhythms are fast and powerful, the guitars are aggressive and the voice of Johnny Hedlund is as always deep and brutal. When I listen to "This Is Our World" for example, the only thing which comes to my mind is, that I will have to jump everywhere in my room. But evidently, you have to know that it is a bit more complex, because the music of Unleashed in addition of its perfect riffs is also something technical. The tortured guitars soli are great and all in all, the structure of the song is not so easy. But you can also find some mid-tempo songs like "Midvinterblot" and let me tell you that it just kick ass. No really, "Midvinterblot" is maybe not the album of the year but it's a well-realised one with a good production and all the fans who like Death or just like classy Metal will find something good in this release.

To be honest, and when I see the whole discography of this band, I still don't understand why they're not so famous in comparison of some others Death Metal combos. "Midvinterblot" will maybe not become a classic Death Metal album like "Shadows In The Deep" but it's a great release. Unleashed deserves to be respected, and I hope that through their new album a lot of people will understand that they're missing something. "Midvinterblot" is a great album of "real" Death Metal, and without any doubt this is one of the best releases of the year 2006.