Review by Michael on November 11, 2021.

I guess that Unleashed don't need a detailed introduction and writing one would be a little bit like carrying sand to the beach. The Swedish death metal veterans will release their 14th album No Sign Of Life on November 14th, 2021 and within the last 30 years they've never really changed course in their way of playing death metal (okay with some slight exceptions) so, I would be very surprised if we find something totally unexpected on the new release. Only the question if they are able to keep up the quality of its predecessor The Hunt For The White Christ remains now.

To start with the cover – all remains quite similar to the last album. A great painting showing the band logo combined with Thor's Hammer and the two ravens Hugin and Munin which emblazons over a barren landscape. I have to say that the latest cover by the band is all very lovely designed and very colorful so that even if only taking a quick look at these it is still quite fun.

The album starts with a lot of rage. Fast and catchy 'The King Lost His Crown' gives much better access to the album than I had with the opener for The Hunt For The White Christ. In this track you can find all the trademarks we are used to know from Unleashed – thundering drums, the sawing riffs and Johnny’s barking voice. The following tracks are kept in the same style ('The Shepherd Has Left The Flock' has a very cool distorted riff at its beginning) and come along with a very nice groove. Listening to the album several times I had a feeling that Unleashed waived some guitar solos and put more straightforward melodies into the tracks (okay, 'Midgard Warriors For Life' is an exception, in my opinion the guitar play here is one of the best the guys ever did) which makes the songs not that bulky as it sometimes was on the last album. You can find a lot of groovy parts in the songs ('Where Can You Flee') which reminds a lot of older Unleashed releases like Victory. You can also find some more creepy, sinister-touched melodies that crawl slowly into your ears and tell you to grip your axe and go out to chop some ehh… wood (listen to the start of 'You Are The Warrior'). 'The Highest Ideal' is a very good example for the fact that Unleashed didn't really left their path within all these years. Mid-paced death metal with repetitive riff that makes you feel like you're back in the 90s when the Swedes had their most glorious days with Where No Life Dwells and Shadows In The Deep. One of my favorite tracks is 'Midgard Warriors For Life', a very groovy track with galloping pace and a very cool vocal performance by Johnny. I love it when he screams “Aaaaahhh” - that makes the track quite rousing in my opinion. I guess if Manowar would have made death metal, this would have been a track they could have written (a fool who may think I'm writing this because of the title!). The already mentioned guitar solo is the cherry topping on that great track. Another very convincing song is 'Did You Struggle With God', okay it is composed quite similar to 'Midgard Warriors For Life' but I think that these catchy tracks you can easily listen to were and will always be the trademark of Unleashed. The rest of the album is also really solid death metal with a quite fast and neck breaking track called 'Tyr Wields The Sword' and two more mid-tempo stompers that will leave no Unleashed fan unsatisfied.

I would assume that the quartet didn't want to invent anything new on this album and I also don't see any reason for doing that after all these years of success and acknowledgement through the scene. I guess the album is a very worthy follow-up to The Hunt For The White Christ and so please don't take the title No Sign Of Life too literally for the new album, Unleashed are still very much vital and alive!!!

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 Midgard Warriors

Review by Lynxie on August 22, 2022.

So we're back to dinosaurs, but are we back to the good ol' times? This particular question has been burning in my mind ever since the band released the cover art.

Most certainly, Victorius is growing to be one of the most ridiculous bands in the genre. Meaning no offense, and personally I do enjoy a bit of cheese with my power metal. But considering how I still regard their debut as a true masterpiece, you'll understand my growing disappointment with these Germans ever since they released that Dinosaur Warfare EP. Besides, their last release was probably their weakest. So I had looked forward to this one with part anticipation and part dread. Well, both feelings were not entirely justified after my first listen, yet they still existed. But I'll say this - Dinosaur Warfare Pt. 2 – The Great Ninja War is definitely a step up from their last disastrous LP.

The album started with an would-be-epic synthy intro 'Saurus Invictus Lazerus' (for fuck's sake what does that even mean?) and some video games sound effect samples - at least this was better than that ridiculous narrative outro, though the narrator dude did still came out for a bit on 'Victorious Dinogods' to call upon us to fight the space ninja... Really, the trademark of Victorius by this point is definitely their highly ridiculous song titles and entirely ludicrous lyrics. Or you can call them cringeworthy, I find the line pretty thin here. I mean, look at that bloody tracklist. 'Mighty Magic Mammoth'? 'Night Of The Nuclear Ninja'? 'Tricep Ceratops'? Though none achieved the briliance of 'Astral Assassin Shark Attack', they're still nonsensical enough to convince me that this is probably another album with the typical Victorius humor. Honestly, how could you not mentally form a sloppily photoshoped image of a colorful ceratop's head connected to a black-and-white photo of the body of a muscular man lifting weight when you heard the chorus of 'Triceps Ceratops'?

Well, cheese aside, musically speaking this is still very much their old mix of Dragonforce and Gloryhammer. You know, we've got some punchy riffs, generally fast and energetic drums, some flashy solos, and, inevitably, super upbeat, super catchy choruses. Indeed my opinion had immediately improved when I'd noted the significantly lesser use of synth on this album. Sure, they'd still popped out on a few tracks like 'Jurassic Jetfighters' and 'Dinos And Dragons', but none of them were of the likes of 'Cosmic Space Commando Base' or 'Shuriken Showdown', So I rest assured.

In fact, some of the songs really put me more mindful of their older and finer works more than anything else. I mean, I could totally replace 'Virus' with the same powerful rocker 'Katana Kingdom Rising'. Tracks like 'Jurassic Jetfighters' and 'Gods Of Roar' really brought back the vigor they'd had on the Dreamchaser album. Though of course 'Shadow Of The Shinobi' still referred back to Space Ninjas From Hell both musically and lyrically speaking. Indeed some of the less melodic parts on tracks like 'Mighty Magic Mammoth' are still quiet Space Ninja-ish.

Now, the answer to my question of afore: I don't think we're quite back there yet. But I'll feel safe in saying that this is a release that will satisfy the less zealous Victorius fans - at least this was less formulaic and less cringeworthy in concept. Still, I wasn't all that enthusiastic to become a space ninja before, and I'm equally reluctant to face my transformation into a dinosaurier right now.

Highlights: 'Jurassic Jetfighters', 'Katana Kingdom Rising', 'God Of Roar'

Rating: 7.5 out of 10