Artist: Unhallowed
Country: Germany
Label: Folter Records
Formats: CD
Year: 2023
One should never judge a book by its cover, but it’s hard not to think of Dissection when a band is named after one of their many iconic songs. Even putting this name bias aside, the German act Unhallowed certainly incorporated a lot of inspiration from their namesake into their debut album ‘Awaken the Black Flame’. And I think the band embraces that, as in for instance ‘We Shall Reap’, which is a great reference to the reaper on the cover of ‘Storm of the Light’s Bane’ to start with, lyrics such as “A Land Forlorn, Where Frozen Winds Blow” are directly taken from Dissection’s track lists. The vocal style is also fairly close to that of Jon Nödveidt, bearing a similar touch of reverb. But even if they may have taken a lot of inspiration from the Swedes, there’s no denying that a song like ‘Toward the Abyss’ contains strong melodies throughout, nears a similar chilling atmosphere and even adds a solo towards the end that counts the song among one of the highlights of the album.
Digging a little bit deeper into the music on ‘Awaken the Black Flame’, we find that Unhallowed is more than just a Dissection copy. For one, acts like Unanimated and other high-profile members of the 90s wave of Swedish melodic Black Metal made their mark on the sound of Unhallowed as well. But that fast, melody-driven harmonious Death / Black Metal with clear origins in more Thrashy riffing is not the only thing we can find on this Folter Records released album. In tracks such as the title song we also find a structure that very similar to the epic riffs of Immortal in their ‘At the Heart of Winter’ through ‘Sons of Northern Darkness’ period. In addition, some of the base melody progressions in the songs remind me of Keep of Kalessin. Both of these additions fit well with this typical Swedish sound and at the same time make Unhallowed sound just a little bit different than bands that merely try to copy that brand of melodic Death / Black Metal.
The mark of Dissection on the sound of Unhallowed might be clear, but their infusion of slightly different angles makes it both a feast of recognition as well as a somewhat different take on a beloved style. No matter how you look at it, ‘Awaken the Black Flame’ is a strong debut of well-crafted and skilfully played Swedish style melodic Black Metal. That a style that has been extensively emulated for decades can still sound fresh is probably the greatest compliment we can give to Unhallowed!
