UMUR
"Sworn Allegiance" is the 7th full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Unleashed. The album was released through Century Media Records in July 2004. After a longer hiatus Unleashed returned in 2002 with reissues of their early albums and with their 6th full-length studio album "Hell's Unleashed (2002)". "Hell's Unleashed (2002)" showed a band firing on all cylinders again, after a couple of more mediocre album releases and "Sworn Allegiance" continues the positive trend.
Stylistically "Sworn Allegiance" pretty much continues where "Hell's Unleashed (2002)" left off (although the quality of the material is generally higher on this release), and the listener is treated to powerful and energetic Swedish death metal done the Unleashed way. Unleashed were never the most raw and brutal Swedish death metal band, but typically opted for a more defined and unique sound, which is raw enough, but not quite as bludgeoning and savage as some of the output by their contemporary colleagues. Unleashed focus a lot on simplicity and catchiness, and especially the latter is often neglected in extreme metal, but Unleashed understand the importance of that particular feature. While not all tracks on "Sworn Allegiance" are equally memorable and there are arguably a couple of unremarkable tracks scattered on the album (and a couple where the lyrics are bit cringe worthy), there are also some absolutely killer tracks featured on the album with infectious hooklines and memorable riffs like "Winterland", "The Longships Are Coming", and "Long Live the Beast" ("Attack" is also an absolute scorcher).
"Sworn Allegiance" aslo features a powerful and well sounding production, and the performances are strong on all posts. Lead vocalist/bassist Johnny Hedlund seems to have found his second youth after the 2002 comeback and he sounds commanding while delivering his intelligible growling vocals. Drummer Anders Schultz as always delivers a great percussive attack and guitarists Tomas Olsson and Fredrik Folkare churn out one memorable riff after another. I have to mention the many great guitar solos too (courtesy of Folkare) as they are are delivered with great skill and flair for melody. So upon conclusion "Sworn Allegiance" is a high quality release by Unleashed and although not perfect, a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still well deserved.
