CIMMERIAN

"Cimmerian" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish metal act Unmoored. The album was released through Pulverised Records in the summer of 1999. "Cimmerian" was already recorded in late 1997 but the release was postponed because of label issues. On this release Unmoored are a two-piece consisting of Henrik Schönström on drums and Christian Älvestam on bass, guitars and vocals. The latter is quite the prolific character on the Swedish metal scene having been a member of acts such as Scar Symmetry, Torchbearer and Miseration. Unmoored are one of his first projects though.

The music on the album is a mix of melodic death metal, death´n´roll and large doses of groove metal. There´s even a hint at goth metal in the closing track "Final State" so "Cimmerian" is certainly a diverse album. The vocals are mostly growling/raw shouting but Älvestam masters clean vocals too and he uses them often. His clean vocals on "Cimmerian" remind me quite a lot of Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Nightingale...etc.). The sound production is decent even though the drums have an artificial sounding quality to them that isn´t too pleasant.

It´s obvious that the two guys in the band are pretty skilled musicians, but the music is a bit directionless to my ears. Unmoored simply take their mouths too full and incorporate elements from too many genres and the outcome is of mixed quality. It´s never really bad but it´s seldom really good either so I guess a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.