Unleashed

Sworn Allegiance (Century Media)
by Martin Popoff

Called everything from the Motörhead to the AC/DC or even the Manowar of death metal, Unleashed have certainly caused a stir of consternation by just being too damn likeable. I suppose in that respect, you can compare them to Six Feet Under. Hell, I’m totally into it, having played this album repeatedly like a smiling fool, grooving to Johnny’s blubbery over the top Viking metalness, his vocals a boozy, sloppy hail to the gods of longbeards and blunt swords meant as much for slapping as slicing. And critics of the perhaps too humorous Hell’s Unleashed should be assuaged by the slightly faster, more technical, and less lyrically silly direction of the album. Bloody ‘ell, I mean, Johnny’s found the perfect balance between headbanging and thrashing, making this thing pound along like a big metal party: Blunt, boorish words you can understand, riffs you’ll remember long after the smoke’s cleared, production loud and proud, rhythms crushing yet touched by the hand of chaos. Wench, another round!
(www.centurymedia.com)