Unlight – Sulphurblooded (2010)

Hailing from Germany and on Massacre records, today we have the Black Metal warriors of Unlight, and their blasphemous fifth full-length release “Sulphurblooded”. With around 46 minutes of crushing evilness, the band does a pretty solid job in crafting a very powerful release that will please any fan of traditional Black Metal, with a Thrashy/Swedish vibe to it.

As you can imagine, Unlight is nowhere close to being an innovative or revolutionary band, but they are great at what they do. Crafting 10 songs of refined Black Metal, Unlight is uncompromising and crushing when it comes to blast beats and riffing power. The band’s sound is both neat and effective, something that only comes with experience, creating a very effective vortex of elements that will blow your away since the first riff.

The guitar work on “Sulphurblooded” is very solid, featuring a wide variety of dominating riffs, brutal tremolo picking sections, and melodic passages that help the music be diverse enough to keep the listener engaged and waiting for what’s next. Songs like “Pale Rider – Pale Horse” and “Invictus” give an aura similar to Dark Funeral or even the all-mighty Immortal, but do not sound like a cheap rip off. Other tracks like “Deine Waffen zu Meinen Fuessen” transition magically from full-on aggression to a brilliant melodic section that shows versatility in the band’s ideas.

As you can expect with any decent BM band, the drumming is massive and very fast paced, have some very intense sections. The bass guitar is pounding through the whole album, creating a very powerful combination with the riffing. Blaspherion’s vocals are top notch, but a bit linear since after a few songs they kind of seem to all sound the same. Maybe a bit more on the vocalist’s repertoire would greatly improve the band’s sound, or just using some backing vocals from any of the other members.

The production behind “Sulphurblooded” is top notch and it allows the album to fully shine. The band’s sound is very clean, maybe a bit too clean for purists of the ‘rawness’ behind Black Metal music. But for us it’s perfectly fine as long as it’s crushing and brutal enough to make us want to head bang. In terms of best songs in this release, we have to say that the blistering-fast “Sound Forth the Trumpet...That Shall Never Call Retreat”, “Invictus” and it’s epic chorus section, and the closing song “Deine Waffen zu Meinen Fuessen” are the best three songs of this release.

Overall, if you like your BM to be straight up aggressive, but with some nice melodic moments, then “Sulphurblooded” is prefect for you. The band does a great job in terms of execution, and the production behind this release is top notch. So if you are looking for an album to place in your Immortal, Marduk, and Dark Funeral rotation, don’t waste your time and get this release.

Release: September 24th, 2010

Country: Germany