We shalt not speak of Unspoken! Well actually I guess we best otherwise this would be a pretty crap review wouldn’t it? This is the second full length from this Oslo based band and my first encounter with them. Reading through the information provided I can see that they had actually been over and played in the UK Reanimator Festival in Wolverhampton as well as playing at the highly respected Inferno Festival in their home town. There is plenty of quality in the packaging here which came in a nice fold out digi-pack (landing on my door on Xmas eve no less) and the inner booklet with medieval artwork impressed too. Thankfully on playing the disc the music was none too shoddy either.
If we are going to really pick hairs I would say that this was more a case of death, black metal than black, death metal! The death just tips the scales but only by a whisker. Of course that is highly meaningless in the grand scheme of things but I came to the conclusion largely based upon the vocals of Kent Are Sommerseth. Before we get to these though, we have tolling bells, chanting and a baby crying. It’s somewhat odd, I am in the realm of plague spreading in medieval times for some reason, the Mardukian title ‘Baptised At The Altar Of Rats’ perhaps adding to that. The production is beefy as hell, the guitar sound excellent and when the vocals roar and bellow in and everything flies away at a cracking pace head banging is mandatory. There are elements of the aforementioned Marduk here as well as the likes of Polish mobs Behemoth and Hate, the mix works well although just as the track really gets going it makes an abrupt stop making me feel somewhat bewildered. After a pause we are onto ‘Redemption Scars’ and much more of a death laden structure as far as drum patterns, vocals and guitar scythes are concerned. Still its hefty and meaty stuff with a bit of a nod in the direction of older Morbid Angel bolstered by what sounds like a sample and some impressive lead work.
I particularly like some of the doom laden atmospheric guitar parts that take away the speed but sound completely natural on songs like ‘Death Of A Dynasty.’ These make the songs particularly memorable to me and take them way beyond a formulaic battering.
Other tracks just such as ‘Dawn Of The Maggots’ dispense with such trimmings and simply flatten as they get into a good pulverising and rotten sounding groove. The instrumentation is tight and the two guitarists conjure some deft flowing melodies. Probably my favourite here is ‘The Culprit’ which is a really chilling crawling and cadaverous number, dispensing with speed for a slow to mid-paced attack that is hefty in the extreme and ripe with chilling melodic thrust.
So Unspoken have definitely spoken and the cleaving warlike chant of last number ‘Oppression Pawns and Poisonous Tongues’ fades and shimmers to conclusion complete with another chilling sample this requiem is one well worth checking out.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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05/08/2013 at 12:35 am
Hey man, thx alot for these words concerning our latest album, really nice to see our tunes being appreciated, that really inspires us to really hit the spot with our newer material. I might be mistaken but i had to smile a bit when i read “bolstered by what sounds like a sample” in Redemption scars, if you mean the part that slows Down and has a raspy spoken part before the solo, that is not a sample but merely me shrieking out some lines i wrote and had it mixed grim, i take it as a compliment in case you thought it was a sample, so cool if thats the case, couldnt help mentioning it since i noticed it when Reading and got curious hehe. I can promise the upcoming 7″ EP will be quite killer aswell, the frame for most songs are soon set and must say i really look forward to start working on them. We`ll surely send you a copy when the time comes. Horns up.