MP3: Unleashed - Before the creation of time
I'm not gonna lie, I was first drawn to Unleashed by the awesomeness that is their logo. Brutal, yet totally legible with a super-prominent upside-down cross. In a word: awesome. I came across the album "Where no life dwells" while browsing the CD racks and was instantly sold. As for the music, I didn't immediately appreciate their plodding, simplistic death-metal style on first listen, but it's grown on me over the years. Unlike other Swedish contemporaries, there's barely any guitar harmonies, the technically is kept at a minimum and the recording is clean and bare-bones (much thanks to esteemed producer Waldemar Sorychta). Instead, the emphasis is on groove and gloom. That's what makes them so damn heavy! That also means you really don't need more than one Unleashed album in your collection, but who cares -- they have an instantly recognizable sound that's all their own, a sound that's undeniably classic. Remember the mantra: keep it simple, stupid! Of those contemporaries from back in the early 90s, very few have aged nearly as well.
Unleashed - Before the creation of time