UNLEASHED — Shadows in the Deep (review)

UNLEASHED — Shadows in the Deep album cover Album · 1992 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Shadows in the Deep" is the second full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Unleashed. The album was released through Century Media Records in May 1992. It´s the successor to "Where No Life Dwells" from May 1991, which turned out a great success for the band. Both in terms of artistic success and sales numbers. I read a contemporary interview with lead vocalist/bassist Johnny Hedlund, where he said the debut album sold somewhere between 40.000 and 50.000 copies, which is a lot for a death metal album, even in the days before illegal internet downloads and streaming. So Unleashed wasted no time and returned to Woodhouse Studios in Dortmund, Germany in April 1992 (where they also recorded the debut album) with producer Waldemar Sorychta to record the material for "Shadows in the Deep".

Stylistically the music on the album pretty much continues down the same path as the vers/chorus structured old school death metal of the debut album. Pretty basic and simple Swedish death metal, with a less filthy and dark sound production than many of their contemporaries had on their early releases. In that respect Unleashed are actually the most easily accessible of the late 80s/early 90s Swedish death metal artists.

I find "Shadows in the Deep" just a notch more varied than "Where No Life Dwells". But the lack of surprises in the way the songs are structured does make it a slightly formulaic listen. Some of the standout tracks here are the fast and powerful opener "The Final Silence", the heavy mid-paced "The Immortals", and "Bloodbath", but the quality of the material is generally consistent. The cover of Venom´s "Countess Bathory" is decent but nothing out of the ordinary.

"Shadows in the Deep" features a sligthly more dark and heavy sounding production, but it´s still relatively polished for the genre, and sometimes a little more grit and rawness would have been nice. There are parts on the album which are lacking in power. It´s probably a combination of the simple riffs and song structures, and the sound production, but the point is that it could have been interesting to hear a more unhinged version of "Shadows in the Deep". Oh well...it´s still a great album as it is, and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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