UMUR
"Unsane, Insane and Mentally Deranged" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Murder Squad. The album was released through Pavement Music in 2001. Murder Squad was formed in 1993 by guitarist Uffe Cederlund (Entombed), drummer Peter Stjärnvind (Entombed), vocalist Matti Kärki (Dismember) and bassist Richard Cabeza (Dismember) initially as an Autopsy cover band but later the band started writing their own material. They released two full-length studio albums between 2001 and 2003.
The music on "Unsane, Insane and Mentally Deranged" is old school death metal influenced by Autopsy but also by the late eighties/early nineties Swedish death metal scene. So expect the filth and grit of the old school American death metal scene combined with the buzzing old school Swedish death metal sound. Taking into account that Murder Squad features members (and former members) of Entombed and Dismember, it´s mostly the latter act that I´m reminded of. The sound production is typical old school Swedish influenced. It´s no surprise that the musicianship is on a good level, but while the songwriting is solid, there are not many standout moments on the 12 track, 33:44 minutes long album. This is pretty much standard old school death metal that´s enjoyable while it plays, but just as soon forgotten when it ends. Song titles like "Slowly Burnt to Death", "Bloodfreak" and "Sacrificial Strangulation, Beating and Rape" also tell you the story of the pretty generic lyrics and imagery of the band. It´s not as such a negative, just an example of the relatively generic nature of "Unsane, Insane and Mentally Deranged".
When that is said I still find "Unsane, Insane and Mentally Deranged" to be an enjoyable old school death metal release and I´m sure most fans of the genre will enjoy it too. Just don´t expect it to stand out much from the vast amount of releases in the genre. A 3 star (60%) rating is deserved.