UMUR
"Darkness Unbound" is the fourth full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Demonical. The album was released through Cyclone Empire in September 2013. It´s the successor to "Death Infernal" from April 2011. There have been a couple of lineup changes since the predecessor as drummer Ronnie Bergerstål has been replaced by Fredrik Widigs and guitarist Johan Jansson has been replaced by Daniel Gustavsson.
Stylistically it´s apparent from the first listen of "Darkness Unbound" that bringing back the Dismember/melodic death metal elements from the Centinex days on "Death Infernal" wasn´t a one-off. The dark, grim, and brutal old school Swedish death metal elements of the first couple of Demonical albums are still present here, but they are combined with a more melodic approach to old school Swedish death metal. This is probably what the bastard child of Dismember and Grave would sound like in a contemporary setting.
"Darkness Unbound" features a powerful and well sounding production job (with the HM-2 guitar tone dominating the soundscape), some effectful and relatively varied songwriting, and some skilled musical performances, so upon conclusion it´s another high quality release from Demonical. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.