Unanimated – Victory in Blood

In a time when death metal and black metal stood in polar opposition to each other, Unanimated brazenly fused the two with a healthy dose of melody and atmosphere to boot. Granted, they weren’t the only band doing this at the time; so were trailblazers like Dissection, Sacramentum, and Necrophobic. Little did these bands know the music they were creating as kids would go on to become stepping stones in the evolution of two major subgenres. Their influence can be heard in today’s bands, ranging from Watain to Thulcandra…whose subsequent influence can be heard on the modern day releases of said veterans. Case in point: Unanimated’s Victory in Blood.

The first Unanimated album in 12 years, Victory in Blood isn’t a blatant attempt of bandwagon jumping, but rather an effort to keep up with the changing times without completely abandoning the band’s classic ethos. A good comparison would be the way veterans like Budgie and Gillan beefed up their sound in the wake of the NWOBHM, or how Judas Priest dropped Painkiller in the heart of the commercial thrash boom. In a post-Decibel, Lords of Chaos, and hipster fetishization of Mayhem world, Unanimated have made what is hands down their most blackened release yet.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Despite my gripes of the genre being beaten to death and then some, there’s nothing wrong with black metal when it’s done well. And that’s pretty much what Unanimated does for about half of this album. There’s nothing groundbreaking to be heard. At times this album even borders on the predictable (see the obligatory lengthy closer, “The Poetry of the Scarred Earth”), but predictable doesn’t mean unenjoyable. Cuts like “Seven Mouths of Madness”, “The Devil Rides Out”, and “Demon Pact (Mysterium Tremendum)” are ravaging melo black assaults with colossal melodies and epic atmosphere. One could call them cliché, but that’s besides the point.

My favorite moments on Victory in Blood are the ones where Unanimated deviate from this conventional black metal groundwork. The opening title track and “The Golden Dawn of Murder” incorporate the festering riffage and diabolical drumming of classic Swedish death metal, throwbacks to the band’s debut In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead (1993). Meanwhile, the plodding, midtempo “As the Night Takes Us” and “XIII” combine the doom of Black Sabbath and tension of South of Heaven era Slayer. Rounding it all out is some ripping blackened thrash, heard on “Scepter of Vengeance” and the all too brief “Divine Hunger”, the latter being a filthy nod to Venom and Bathory’s debut.

Although Victory in Blood pales in comparison to the band’s magnum opus, Ancient God of Evil (1995), Unanimated deserves credit for being able to pack such a powerful musical punch this far into their career. Aside from the occasional acoustic interlude, this album is an unrelenting assault on the eardrums and soul, with enough hellfire and brimstone to attract listeners young and old. Not even the “Oceans of Time” can stop Unanimated.

6 out of 10

Label: Century Media Records

Genre: Melodic Black Metal

For fans of: Dissection, Sacramentum, Watain