Unanimated
In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead

Melodic death metal (melodeath for friends) is a genre that is strange in its own way. Born in the early nineties from the blend of raw death metal with the maiden-like melodies of the previous decade, it is a genre around which there has always been a bit of confusion, at least in my opinion, of course! Perhaps it's because it partly retains the allure of extreme music, even though it's decidedly more friendly and approachable, thus broadening its audience base and eliminating the elitism that characterizes the pillars of the more uncompromising metal (death and black, just to be clear). In short, melodic death metal can be listened to by both the average metalhead who knows all the lyrics of Metallica and Megadeth by heart but has never heard of Dark Angel, Death Angel, Testament, and Forbidden, as well as the newbie who thinks Alexi Laiho is a god. Thus, many people simply define melodeath as Swedish death metal since it was born in Sweden, completely ignoring the existence of Entombed, Dismember, Grave, and the like. Usually, however, everyone agrees on one point: how to answer the question of who invented this blessed melodic death metal. Easy, you might say, At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames. And this is where the problem arises. Why does no one ever consider Unanimated? Why is this group relegated to being known only by those die-hard defenders of the darkest and gloomiest metal, those who know all the old school groups with at least one album with a 90% average on Metal Archives?

The only likely answer is that the melodic death metal of Unanimated is different from the three previously mentioned groups. In their music, there's no hardcore fury like “Slaughter of the Soul,” there's no elegance of “The Gallery,” and there are also no catchy melodies like “Subterranean.” The group's songs are suffused with a deep and dark aura, similar to that characterizing black metal groups, and indeed the most spontaneous comparison is with Dissection and other exponents of the black/death mix (Necrophobic, Naglfar, Dawn, Sacramentum, Vinterland, Cardinal Sin, I say since it's always cool to drop a thousand names of underground groups) more or less melodic depending on the case.

This style difference can be well appreciated by listening to the debut “In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead,” dated 1993 and thus perfectly in sync with the more famous “Skydancer” by the more famous Dark Tranquillity, thus it's certainly not correct to claim that Unanimated arrived late, at most one might suggest the doubt that such a bland cover might have limited the group's visibility. After all, it is known: the habit does not make the monk, but the cover makes death metal.

The album, to tell the truth, still seems a bit raw; it will be the successor “Ancient God of Evil” to consecrate the band's worth. However, this debut has some atmospheric passages of rare beauty on its side, for instance, the beginning of “Storms From the Skies of Grief,” and the wonderful instrumental concluding “Cold Northern Breeze,” which exudes that typical melancholy of solitary and wild souls living in contact with a hostile yet wondrous nature.