Unleashed

Unleashed is a Swedish death metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1989 by vocalist and bassist Johnny Hedlund. It is active from 1989 to the present and is associated with death metal and metal, with lyrical themes that often draw on Viking culture, a pre-Christian world, and Norse folklore. Some later songs also include references to J. R. R. Tolkien.

Career

Unleashed records demos called Revenge and Utter Dark, which lead to a record deal with the German label Century Media Records. The band is considered one of the “big four” of Swedish death metal, alongside Dismember, Entombed and Grave.

Its debut studio album, Where No Life Dwells, appears in 1991, followed by Shadows in the Deep in 1992, which includes a cover of Venom’s “Countess Bathory”. The next albums are Across the Open Sea in 1993 and Victory in 1995. Victory is the last album to feature guitarist Fredrik Lindgren, who then focuses on punk rock. Fredrik Folkare replaces him on the next album, Warrior, released in 1997.

After a period away from recording and touring, during which the band concentrates on life outside the music business, musical side projects and studying, Unleashed returns with a reissue of its classic material in 2002 and the new album Hell's Unleashed the same year.

Later releases and touring

The band’s seventh studio album, Sworn Allegiance, appears in 2004, followed by Midvinterblot in 2006. In 2006 it tours Europe on the Masters of Death tour with Grave, Dismember and Entombed, and in early 2007 it heads a North American tour with Krisiun and Belphegor.

Hammer Battalion is released in 2008. In 2009 the band signs to Nuclear Blast Records for As Yggdrasil Trembles, followed by festival appearances at Summer Breeze Open Air and With Full Force in Germany in 2010. Odalheim appears in 2012, Dawn of the Nine in 2015, and The Hunt for White Christ follows after the band signs to Napalm Records in 2018. No Sign of Life is then released in 2021.

Members

The band includes Johnny Hedlund, Fredrik Lindgren, Fredrik Folkare, Tomas Måsgard, Anders Schultz and Robert Sennebäck.