KINGDOMS OF GREED

"Kingdoms of Greed" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swedish metal act Unmoored. The album was released through Pulverised Records in 2000. It´s the successor to "Cimmerian" from 1999 and features a couple of lineup changes since the predecessor as drummer Niclas Wahlén has been replaced by Jocke Pettersson and guitarist Rickard Larsson has left too. The remaining members from "Cimmerian (1999)" are Torbjörn Öhrling (bass) and Christian Älvestam (vocals, guitars). Älvestam would of course go on to become very prolific on the Swedish metal scene with his involvement in artists like Scar Symmetry, Torchbearer and Miseration (among others).

Stylistically the listener is treated to death metal of the more melodic kind. It´s not melodeath, but imagine how a less interesting version of Edge of Sanity would sound like (the tracks not written by Dan Swanö). It´s quite an eclectic release, and while the basis of the band´s sound is death metal oriented, the music also features black metal elements ("Torchbearer" is almost full-blown black metal), and elements of goth/melodic metal. The vocals are predominantly high pitched snarling screaming (black metal type vocals), but the music also features death metal growling and some clean vocals. The material are decent but seldom anything beyond that, and it´s a bit of a shame, as there are obviously skills enough to create something a bit more interesting.

"Kingdoms of Greed" features a decent sounding production, but again it´s not really the best sounding production job, and it doesn´t help already relatively standard quality material to shine. Unmoored are often given the progressive death metal label, but to my ears "Kingdoms of Greed" doesn´t feature anything progressive. The song structures are relatively standard for the genre, and it´s not like the material are loaded with innovative or creative ideas either. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)