“RISE OF THE MAYA WARRIORS”: UNLEASHED ARE GOOD AT METAL, BUT ENGLISH, MAYBE NOT SO MUCH

I know that this is totally irrelevant to a conversation about the quality of the music, but when I first saw that Unleashed’s new song is called “Rise of the Maya Warriors,” I laughed — cause I’ve never heard soldiers from that ancient empire referred to as “Maya warriors” before. It’s always “Mayan warriors.” “Maya warriors” sound like a bunch of people who fight on behalf of some girl named Maya, not warriors from the Mayan Empire. Like, you wouldn’t say “France soldiers” or “Britain soldiers,” you’d say “French soldiers” or “British soldiers.”

I dunno. Gave me a chuckle.

ANYWAY, like I said, it’s ultimately irrelevant, ’cause the song itself is a tasty two-minutes-and-forty seconds of Swedish melodeath. And, frankly, the fact that the song is so good almost seems like a miracle in this day and age, when even the once-mighty Sweden is churning out a steady stream of utter garbage. Of course, Unleashed aren’t a young band the way, say, Sonic Syndicate are, but even being elder statesmen doesn’t guarantee you won’t lose your way. So Unleashed seem more special than ever.

Headbang here, then weigh in with your thoughts on Unleashed and the state of modern Swedish melodeath in the comments section below. Unleashed’s new album, Odalheim, comes out April 24 via Nuclear Blast.

-AR