UMUR "Dawn Of The Nine" is the 12th full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Unleashed. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in April 2015. It´s the successor to "Odalheim" from 2012. Unleashed was formed in 1989 after lead vocalist/bassist Johnny Hedlund was kicked out of Nihilist (who would soon morph into Entombed) and is widely regarded as one of the classic Swedish death metal acts from the early 90s.

The music on the album is old school Swedish death metal done the Unleashed way. Unleashed has always been one of the most distinct sounding artists on the Swedish death metal scene (and internationally) and they continue to be so on "Dawn Of The Nine". They play fairly simple death metal, with both galloping fast tempos, and crushingly heavy mid-paced tempos too. A couple of more doomy sections have also sneaked into the music. Although the tracks are generally to the point and vers/chorus structured, Unleashed successfully incorporate intricate details to keep the material interesting. The very well played and melodic guitar solos are one of the prime examples of that, but the lyrics (which is a combination of anti-Christian and Norse mythology/viking themes), and how they are performed by a fully intelligible growling Johnny Hedlund, are another great asset. These tunes are extremely catchy, almost anthemic in nature, and at times quite epic.

It´s almost unfair to mention specific highlights from the album as all tracks on the 10 track, 44:52 minutes long album, deserve a mention, but the title track, "Land Of The Thousand Lakes", "They Came to Die", and "Welcome The Son Of Thor!" could be mentioned, although I´m reluctant to do so, when "Dawn Of The Nine" is such a consistently high quality release.

12 albums into a music career, and you´ll hear a lot of stagnated artists, who are either a shadow of their former selfs, or just endlessly trying to copy their golden years. That´s definitely not the case with Unleashed though, who started out releasing a couple of Swedish death metal classics, had a minor drop in quality in the mid- to late 90s, but picked it up again, and has since delivered solid death metal releases on a string. "Dawn Of The Nine" continues that trend, and is another solid release by the band. It´s actually one of the better albums they´ve released, featuring memorable and cathy material, a well sounding production, and excellent musicianship. A high quality release on all parameters and a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.

Nightfly Unleashed are not the most technical death metal band, they’re not the fastest or the most brutal. They are however one of the most consistent with an unbroken run of strong albums going way back to 2004 with Sworn Allegiance when they upped the death metal quotient after their death ‘n’ roll flirtations. Dawn Of The Nine continues that trend and whilst it may not quite be a career peak it’s the equal of most and better than many of their other albums.

Not surprisingly after 25 years Unleashed are an incredibly solid and tight band with strong musicianship from all. By death metal standards they’re one of the more accessible bands in the genre, partly down to what I said above but also like its predecessors, Dawn Of The Nine is full of captivating riffs and inventive songs with some great guitar solos. There’s not really one song that stands out as a highlight but neither is there any weak ones. Most are mid paced, by death metal standards anyway, but there is liberal use of blastbeats and the title tracks goes the other way and slows things right down to funeral march pace and very effective it is too. Those who struggle with death metal growls will find Johnny’s vocals more accessible than most and you can clearly hear his lyrics.

In all another excellent album from Unleashed with a good production and one that I've got on heavy rotation and no doubt will be for quite a while yet. Well worth checking out.