Exchangeable traditional death metal - A review of Unleashed's The Hunt for White Christ (EP & Rarities)

Swedish death metal veterans Unleashed released this extended play to promote its thirteenth studio record The Hunt for White Christ. The two most positive elements about this release are the imaginative cover artwork and the fact that this record came for free with an issue of acclaimed Legacy magazine.

The two new tracks are solid but nothing more. They don't overstay their welcome, are performed with gritty vocals and tight riffs and feature a few melodic guitar sections. While being performed tightly, they fail to leave a deeper impression. You will forget about one song as soon as the next one has begun.

The two live tracks were recorded almost a decade ago and sound like filler material. The band sounds energetic on stage but is missing the certain something to stand out among so many traditional death metal groups these days.

The two demo tracks are certainly nice gimmicks for collectors and fans of old date. The band shows some great chemistry, impressive musicianship and creative song writing but all this potential is buried under a most terrible production that can't be excused by calling it authentic or refering to an old school spirit. The songs sound as if they had been recorded through wet cardboard and I have listened to grim and frostbitten old school black metal records with better production values.

In the end, Unleashed's The Hunt for White Christ (EP & Rarities) is only interesting for faithful fans of this band and unconditional collectors of old school death metal records. I won't complain since I got this release for free along with an outstanding magazine but the record didn't motivate me to check out anything else this band has released. It might simply not be my cup of tea. The new studio songs are good, the live tracks are average and the demo tunes suffer from terrible production. Overall, this release is rather forgettable.

Final rating: 50%