UNANIMATED
Annihilation
(Century Media Records)
20:57min

Thirty years of UNANIMATED. When Micke Broberg announced via Facebook that UNANIMATED has been resurrected by its members once again, I was very curious to hear the new material. And what can I say, once again, they have not disappointed. This time, the band takes us on a journey back in time to the years 1993 to 1994. At least the opener ‘Adversarial Fire’ sounds like this. Like it has been written straight after "In The Forest Of The Dreaming Dead" was recorded for No Fashion and a while before their creative masterpiece "Ancient God Of Evil". The track has the same rough trademarks like the tracks on their debut with this certain Rock’n’Roll vibe and it is a dirty and blackened version of classic Heavy Metal. The track is tight and dirty, with the rough vocals of Micke and the pretty tight and fast drumming of their newly added drummer Anders Schultz, who also does not need to be introduced here any further. The guitars of Johan and new second guitarist Jonas are straight to the point and sound like they have played together for years. ‘From A Throne Below’ continues the darkened path but a bit slower and especially the bass lines of Richard Demon can be heard here very well and he still kills. The tempo gets slowed down in favour of brilliant classic Heavy Metal tunes. Again this track sounds like a matured version of their debut material, but very unique before they increase the speed with some blast-beats and finally the lead melody appears again. ‘Of Fire And Obliteration’ starts very calm with classic concert guitar tunes and sounds Folk inspired before Micke’s voice appears enriched by a chorus in the back and Anders’ once again perfect, but slow and silent drumming appears. A very good interlude fitting perfectly in the middle of this EP and stops with a church bell. And as the best often comes at last, they close this EP with its title track ‘Annihilation’. This awesome uptempo song starts with fast and razorsharp and memorable guitars and even faster and very technical drumming. Again the diabolic vocals of Micke really kill, but also the damn brilliant lead melody really kicks serious ass and shows that UNANIMATED still is one of the best Death / Black Metal bands on this planet. They manage to sound so damn unique that it is still UNANIMATED and still 90s styled Death / Black Metal but in a very modern interpretation of their own style. Unfortunately they have set a very high standard for the following longplayer for themselves, but it feels like they are in this special creative mood again and this makes them so interesting as they only get together once in a black moon when the time is right for UNANIMATED and currently that time has come. Brilliant output! www.facebook.com/unanimatedofficial, www.centurymedia.com

Michael Kujawska

Michael Kujawska

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