Despite their well-appreciated live reputation and a huge selling number, I for myself have never been such a big ‘fan’ of Germany’s Burden Of Grief. Don’t get me wrong, for I do not dislike any of the former releases they did (at least the ones I do know). But even the productional duties provided by top-meisters like Dan Swanö couldn’t guarantee fulfilment or satisfaction. But with each effort this band did, I noticed a slight progression; their latest recording, by the way, which was 2010’s Follow The Flames, might be my ‘favourite’ Burden Of Grief-album to date (see the Archive-section of Concreteweb, update September 29th 2010). So when I did receive this album, I surely did hope this evolution continued. Well, it does!
Unchained too has been produced by legendary Dan Swanö and the version we did receive lasts for forty eight minutes. And as from the very beginning (the opening song is called Awaken The Nightmare), this album does convince. All right, this material is catchy, rhythmic and miles away from experimental progression. For my part you do call it ‘safe’ or whatever, because safe it is. But Unchained rocks and rolls. Awaken the Nightmare is a classic-in-being, for it contains every detail it needs, and despite a certain predictability, it surprises with the different uplifting elements. And the album goes on this way. The title track, for example, is built upon a nice melodic guitar lead, heavily supported by a powerful rhythm section and the interesting grunts of Mike Huhmann. And almost every piece is more than ‘just average’. Besides, Unchained might be the most powerful album to date, as well as the most timeless one. There’s less thrashing groove in favour of a bigger focus on epic and melody (in this band’s case specifically, I am but pleased with this evolution!). And I guess it is nothing else but a must for every fan of the European Death / Thrash Metal scene.