Across the Open Sea

Unleashed kept up their torrid pace of record releases in 1993 with their third outing in two years, Across the Open Sea. Very similar to the previous year's Shadows in the Deep, both discs were actually re-released in a single package later in the '90s. The production, while similar, is a little better on Across the Open Sea. Anders Schultz's drums are especially powerful. Along with the spooky title track, the doom-inflected "In the Northern Lands" stands out as a nice highlight. A trend toward slower tempos begins to develop on this effort, but death metal stalwarts need not worry that the band would ever abandon their musical origins. Plenty of lightning-paced riffs are placed generously throughout this recording, which upholds the group's death metal reputation nicely. Listeners fond of Unleashed will find no significant fault with Across the Open Seas and are encouraged to locate the combined version if they don't already own either of these early-'90s Euro death staples.