Unleashed

At the frontier of Evergrey, Nevermore, Metallica and Black Sabbath, Debase delivers a very interesting album for those of you who like heavy stuff combined with "doomish flavors". If you are a fan of In Search Of The Truth (Evergrey), venerates the heavy riff of the Black Album (Metallica) and finally have a certain hunger for doom metal, Unleashed has been recorded just for you ;) Debase saw the light back in 1996 ... but this is the first time I am "in contact" with these musicians. Once again this band comes from Sweden (no comment...), Malmoe do be precise. As said above, Unleashed is the first album I listen from Debase but bear in mind these guys have already released two other albums : The World is Listening (1999) and Domination, released in 2001 just after the band supported Alice Cooper during the Brutal Planet Tour. Newly signed to Sanctuary / Noise Records, we are this time exposed to their fascinating music. Fascinating is the simplest word I could found at this stage ... as Debase-metal is not easy to label. The album starts with Holy Caravan and the "magical metal fusion" starts : first you have the feeling to hear a stoner band. A few seconds later, you found yourself projected back to Evergrey's atmosphere but the music evolves again. At the approach of the chorus, your mind sends you to Enter Sandman (Metallica) and the chorus finally traps you, being doomish as hell. Good luck to classify this !!! One thing is however sure : this is great stuff and through out the album, the doom/stoner atmosphere acts as a leader (Black Sabbath, Cathedral, Grand Magus, Spiritual Beggars). The second track, Pleasuredome, has a hypnotic heavy rhythm with doomish/stoner elements taking the lead once again (Spiritual Beggars). Restrained, with its chorus line that reminds me somehow Unholy (Kiss) is one of my favorite track. Heavy, dark and slow. Debase's song-writing is mature and very impressive. I am again smashed to see how my mind reacts to Debase-metal, jumping from one band to another (Metallica, Evergrey, Black Sabbath, Spiritual Beggars). The vocalist does a f*cking great job and that goes for the whole album of course. The next track, Elected, has a much faster tempo compared to the first three songs. The beginning of the song reminds me the jingle of Cosmos 1999 (TV series) ... but that's another story ;). The song turns quickly to Metallica (Black Album) meets Angel Dust (Of Human Bondage). Quite aggressive at the beginning, the heaviness and the doomish ambiance remain at the "rendezvous" in the middle of the song. Top-notch !!! And it goes on like this until the end of the record. Songs like Inordinate Desire, Schizofrenia, The Blood Remains should not be left behind but I let you discover these tracks your own way. I would just say that your mind switches from one band to another naturally ... and that this metal-recipe is definitely not a copy-pasted one. These guys have a real talent and Unleashed proves it !!! If you are a fan of the above-mentioned bands, I highly recommend you to check this record. 80 points for ... Sweden :)