UMUR "The Light of Day" is an EP release by Swedish death metal act Utumno. The EP was released through Cenotaph Records in 1991. It was originally released on 7" vinyl and limited to 1.000 copies. "The Light of Day" features two tracks and a total playing time of 9:36 minutes. The material was recorded at Sunlight Studio, Stockholm, Sweden in September 1991. While the original 7" vinyl version of the EP is a hard find, the material from "The Light of Day" have been added as bonus material on some reissue versions of Utumno´s next EP release "Across the Horizon". The two tracks also appear in re-recorded versions on "Across the Horizon".

Utumno play quite an interesting and technically challenging old school death metal style. It´s not completely different from some of the contemporary releases by fellow Swedes in Afflicted. While the level of technical playing is certainly high, Utumno manage to steer clear of the pitfalls (read...technical wankery for the sake of it), and they first and foremost produce some very powerful, brutal, and effectful old school death metal. The occassional lead guitar part and atmosphere enhancing keyboard section also add greatly to their sound. Lead vocalist Jonas Stålhammar is probably one of the most intense, raw, and brutal sounding vocalists on the scene. He hits the perfect balance between brutal growling, and intense aggression.

So not enough nice things can be said about "The Light of Day", which also features a professional, brutal, and detailed sounding production. Utumno may not have made it out of the Swedish death metal underground, but they certainly deserved more recognition judged on this release. It´s one of the best quality old school Swedish death metal releases (which isn´t a full-length studio album) I have come across and a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.