Unmoored - Indefinite Soul-Extension review
| Band: | Unmoored |
| Album: | Indefinite Soul-Extension |
| Style: | Progressive death metal |
| Release date: | 2003 |
| A review by: | Undercraft |
01. Unspeakable Grief
02. Commit To The Fire
03. Leave-Taking
04. Phase Of Revulsion
05. Morndraper
06. Cinders Veil
07. Spit Forth From Failure
08. Final State Part III
Bands don't do much effort lately on their logos, just entangled and undecipherable letters with the typical pentagram, the inverted cross and other "evil" icons. Unmoored really thought this through and came up with a great logo, readable and symmetric, just the way I like it. Also they thought very well about their cover art, very "artsy" , until now the album is cliché free, but the music is what matters, so let's take a hear to this Swedish Death Metal combo.
Well, at my first spin, I must say, this really sounds Swedish, brutal yet melodic, like a successful combination of Death, Thrash and some Heavy Metal.
The album opens with "Unspeakable Grief" a song that defines well the album, great Death parts countered with some more calmed ones, where the clear vocals take the lead.
One of the best things of the Swedish trio is their keyboards, they create a nice effect in each song.
Some of the killer songs in the album are "Leave-Taking" a powerful aggressive song, where a violin appears out of nowhere with a great solo! That was a nice surprise! "Cinders Evil" has excellent guitar soloing and nice tempo breaks all over, making this a instant hit, the closer "Final State Part III" is a semi acoustic track where the clean vocals take over through all the song.
Is a great album, but after several spins I found that the clean vocal parts (except the closer track) are quite lame, I mean, they don't merge too well with the violent sections of each song, besides that, I think this is more than a decent album, and any fan of Death Metal should try it.
Staff review by
Sephiroth
Sephiroth
Rating:
8.0
8.0
|
Rating: 8.0 |
The usual Swedish Death Metal band? No. With their third album Umoored show us how to play following a genre without being repetitive or copycats. Obviously infuenced by the swedish melodic death (mainly Hypocrisy), Unmoored mix melody with a strong amount of brutality, with vocals ranging from the "almost black" screaming to the classic growl but also some melodic (Opeth-flavoured) clean vocals lines. Perfectly produced (Tagtgren is everywhere?I wonder: does he sleep sometimes?), and technically exemplary, the album sound is compact, powerful- but not too much crisp and boombastic, in order to keep the right harsh but dark atmosphere- and it ranges well from a good melodic death riffing to some heavy "floridian" thrashy passages, even if the best moments are just when they reaserch more the melodic complexity and the time changing (Leave-Taking , Cinders Veil and Spit Forth The Failure are the highlights)- breaking the pounding Death rhythmics with slower clean vocals parts - rather than other episodes like the isolated Morndraper, when they try to follow a more brutal and heavy approach, that frankly is less original and catchy. As a "surprise" the album is closed by Final State Part III a pleasant semi-ballad, with clean vocals only, good ending for an album continously searching for the variation. So, what about it? I don't find anything wrong in this album, but I cannot say that is a masterpiece. It's just a step under the perfection, I don't know why, but that's the feeling I have. Anyway, my opinion on it grow better as much as I listen this album. But, if you like this kind of death metal this album is more than recomended, nothing of incredibly innovative, but an excellent album in the overcrowded swedish death scene, an album that grasps somehting that others miss and a band that will surely be capable to impose itself it the phantheon of the Swedish Death. |
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