UNLEASHED is an old-school Death Metal band from Sweden, formed in 1992. To this day, they remain true to their musical style, with the signature raw melodies always present in their sound. Pioneers in incorporating themes from Scandinavian mythology, they are preparing to release a new album in the near future. The very friendly and approachable frontman Johnny Hedlund spoke to THE GALLERY’s Web Magazine, giving us an update on the band’s latest news.
– Welcome to THE GALLERY Johnny! It’s an honor to have you in our Web Magazine. First of all, now we are enjoying a great experience at the 70.000 TONS OF METAL, in the Caribbean Sea. What’s your impression of it?
Johnny Hedlund: Thank you! I think it’s absolutely fantastic! I mean, you get what you expect to get, and that alone is fantastic. You have your vacation, you have your work, you’ ve got to play music because you have two shows to play. But that combined, because I love playing music, I don’t care. It’s not a job for me, so that too is a vacation. You meet people from all around the world and you meet friends you haven’t seen in a very long time sometimes. That’s just amazing. It’s actually almost the same at most festivals that we play, but of course it’s a little different because we’re on a ship in the Caribbean, and you go to some places and back again. It’s a different environment but a very special experience, I would say. I love it, it’s great!
– How would you compare the “low budget” metalheads with the ones that can afford a ticket for this cruise, spending so much money to come here? Are there any differences between the classes according to their reactions when you are on stage or when you meet them in person?
Johnny Hedlund: Ι would say that this ship has an average of older people than a normal festival in Holland, Germany, the Czech Republic or anywhere else. This fact shows that if you have the money to go on a trip like this, then you’re probably not 21. So, I think that’s the answer right there. Of course there are people who save money for the entire year and then put them into this thing, because it’s a fantastic experience for everybody. I would say that’s the main difference, a little older crowd if you look at the entire festival. Any other festival in Europe would have a little younger crowd; perhaps, if you look at the entire 70.000 TONS OF METAL, are like 3.000 people that would be a little bit younger. I think that’s really the only difference.
– Do you feel weird playing Death Metal and talking about Nordic mythology, while at the same time some naked people have a party in the pool in front of you?
Johnny Hedlund: (..Laughing..) It’s a bit strange, but that doesn’t matter. I mean, I’m happy that people have a good time, because that’s what it’s all about. When you go on a trip like this, you do it to have a good time. You have a good experience, you meet a lot of your friends that you maybe haven’t seen in a while, you meet bands.. I think it’s a good thing that they actually invented this some time ago. They figured out that a lot of people would like it and I can understand why. The concept is brilliant, to be honest.
– Let’s leave 70.000 TONS OF METAL and go to this great band called UNLEASHED, returning to the very beginning of the band. What are your memories from those days? Which were your main influences back then? How did you decide to create this band?
John Hedlund: Oh, that’s a pretty vast question! Yeah, I was kind of young when I started the band. I was in a band called NIHILIST, between 1987 and 1988, and so I formed UNLEASHED in 1989. I think the main reason for that was quite simple; we wanted to play the most brutal music we could! Our influences back then were like VENOM, SLAYER, stuff like that and we just wanted to take it a step further!
– …and BATHORY maybe?
Johnny Hedlund: Uhm.. Well, BATHORY was never my influence, but they were obviously around. I started tape trading very early with bands like AUTOPSY, MORBID ANGEL, RAPTURE WAR, IMMOLATION, EXECUTIONER and a lot of bands out there with demo cassettes! We were really like “Oh, wow, man, we can do this too!”. Of course these are early influences. Lyrically, I’ve always been into that side but also into the Viking tradition type of lyrics, so, I kind of combined that in the beginning to see where I could go with UNLEASHED. I guess that’s how I started…
– Talking about your music, except from being a Death Metal band you had enough melodies to give a new tone to the Extreme Metal scene in Sweden. I believe that you and some other bands, like EDGE OF SANITY for example, had their impact on the creation of New Wave of Swedish Death Metal. Do you think the same? Do you like this type of music or are you more into the traditional Death Metal sound?
Johnny Hedlund: We have always been into, let’s say, the traditional way of making Rock music. It doesn’t matter if it’s Chuck Berry or if it’s DEATH. The thing is, if you make a song like verse-chorus, verse-chorus, you have a bridge, then you go verse-chorus, and then you have a song. That type of music is something that we were always impressed by, and that’s the type of music I listened to when I was younger. MOTORHEAD, SAXON, IRON MAIDEN, ACCEPT, VENOM, bands like that had that type of structure in their songs, and that’s what got us into doing the same thing. I’m not so into the more technical side of things. Not that we can’t do it, but I don’t listen to that type of music. If it’s too technical, you kind of lose me. I want you to listen to something that you will remember. A good song is a good song, so I guess these were our earliest influences, and that’s how we kept on going and kept on writing music.
– What gives you inspiration in composing music?
Johnny Hedlund: Well, apart from the early days, nowadays mostly Fredrik (ps. the guitarist) writes the music, and I’m not exactly sure what makes him influenced writing new songs today. I made most of our music in the early days, on the five-six first records, but now he makes most of the music, and I’m not exactly sure if he has any special bands that he would say he gets influenced by. I know he likes IRON MAIDEN but you can’t really find this in our music, because you have to understand he’s a guitar player, so he’s going to like a lot of “guitar music”. He is a skilled guitar player, but I think he knows that we have to keep our roots, that’s extremely important. It doesn’t matter if you’re influenced by something that is viable and new today or if it’s like AUTOPSY, DEATH, OBITUARY or whatever it is that you listened to when you were younger and even today. I mean, some of those bands are really good today, as well. You can get influenced by that too, but I can’t really say exactly what he gets influenced by when he makes a new song. I think it’s like probably a mix, like many influences of old and new stuff.
– It might not even be music the thing that gives you inspiration. It might be something good in life, like a new girlfriend, a good food, something that might give you good inspiration...
Johnny Hedlund: Yeah! I’d say that’s pretty hard. For me, it’s easier because I do most of the melody lines for the vocals and the lyrics, so for me it’s easier to be precise. I think music wise, Fredrik can get influenced by just about anything, but he knows our roots; he knows what an UNLEASHED record should sound like, so he looks at that and makes new songs, and that’s core because he can’t step away from that.
– As for the lyrics, you are into Nordic mythology so many years. What were your main subjects talking about, except from Nordic mythology, back in the old days?
Johnny Hedlund: I’d say that in the beginning when we started on the first cassettes and first albums, we were more into the darker side of things; more like a wider variety of topics, for sure. But for a few of those albums, we really started writing a lot more about North tradition type of lyrics. Today, that’s basically what we do, but I guess you could look at it from many perspectives, but for sure our roots are there, and that’s our genre I would say.
– How do you feel about the bands that came after you, talking about Norse mythology, like AMON AMARTH or other bands? Do you like their sound? Do you like their style and how they share it with the crowd?
Johnny Hedlund: I think that’s great! I really endorse that! It would be really sad if I was the only one doing it. I think that’s a great plus. There are so many different angles to what you can write about, for example, the North tradition or Norse mythology. So, we don’t really own everything. We have our style, but I’m happy that a lot of other bands do it as well.
– How would you characterize the sound of UNLEASHED to someone who doesn’t know you and hasn’t heard of the band?
Johnny Hedlund: I would probably say “Death Metal” so that they know what it is. If they want to categorize it even more, then you could actually accept the “Viking Death Metal” characterization, but I think Death Metal is the correct term, because that’s what we play.
– “Where No Life Dwells” (ps. 1991) is a masterpiece album in the Metal discography. What are your memories from this album? Recordings, composing stuff, your lives back then??
Johnny Hedlund: We recorded the first album in Germany way back in time, and it was a strange time. We didn’t really know what to expect. We were just out to have a good time. We chose our record company back then, Century Media, because they said they were going to get us out on tour. They said that we’re going to record an album fast and get us out on tour fast, and that’s what happened. That’s the good side, that’s what I remember as the most positive thing, and you also have to know that back then, a lot of things that happened were more of a party thing than just professionalism. Not that I don’t like the album, I love it, but that’s what it was back then. I mean, we were young, so…
– With which bands were you connected more back then?
Johnny Hedlund: With many bands, like BOLT THROWER, MORBID ANGEL, DISMEMBER, GRAVE, ENTOMBED, MORGOTH, many bands! We’ve toured with so many bands back then, especially in ’91, ’92, and ’93, when everything started to happen. We went out with many bands, and it was great. We’ve started building many relationships with other groups that we meet also today and that’s amazing.
– Let’s come to UNLEASHED of 2024. What’s going on with the band? What should we expect in the future?
Johnny Hedlund: We are now working on our 15th album. I think that before the summer we will try to book a time for a studio. I believe that most of what we have going on, is going to be ready by then. It could take some more time, but I guess before the summer we will know which time we will record the new album. We don’t go much on many tours these days because of family reasons, but we play as many festivals as we really can all over the place, so that’s basically what we’re doing.
– When should we expect your new album to come out?
Johnny Hedlund: I don’t think I can say that because we’re working on it now. Perhaps there’s studio time in summer, but I don’t really know. I haven’t even talked to the record company yet about when this should be because it’s a little bit too early.
– Any hint, any song name, any something inside the new album that can be said?
Johnny Hedlund: I don’t really know what to say because we’re working on seven songs out of 11-12, right now. I don’t really know what more to say about them because it’s a little too early for that.
– Excluding your latest album, which one is your favorite, and which album is the bestseller for you?
Johnny Hedlund: I really don’t know if I can say that I have a favorite album; I don’t think I can choose. Every album has its time. If I am in 1992, my answer will be the «Shadows in the Deep». If I am in 2007, it will be another album, so it’s a little strange to put myself in a position where I could say which album is the best now, because I always think the new album is the best. If I didn’t, then I would change the album. It would be better if I did something else because I have that power, I can change it so that it is the best I can do right now.
– ..but «Where No Life Dwells» is a milestone!.
Johnny Hedlund: (Laughs) Well, I guess you know it was our first album, and we got out on tour and played everywhere, so, of course you have to always cherish those days. It was fun!
– It’s one of the albums that gave inspiration to newer bands to move forward. The same happened with ENTOMBED and «Left Hand Path» or “Clandestine” album or even with EDGE OF SANITY. Back in the days, those albums gave new energy to younger people to come up with new ideas and evolve the Metal sound.
Johnny Hedlund: Yeah, I think that’s one of the good effects that a lot of our bands had come up with albums on ’91 and ‘92 because we were pretty early and we had Demo cassettes of course before that, but those didn’t get as much. You sold a couple of thousand, three, four thousand maybe, but when you have an album out like that in 1991, stuff starts happening. When you get to promote it and play on US tours and you do two European tours with that album, everybody, all of a sudden, knows what it is.
– Any memories from your one and only visit in Athens, Greece, together with MEMORIAM and AT THE GATES back in 2018?
Johnny Hedlund: The problem with going to Athens and places like that is that you want to stay a little longer, because there are so many things to see. I think that when we played there, we didn’t have time to see anything. Just played and got out of there. That’s a problem; that’s the bad part of the downside of being a musician. There’s always something happening the day after, so that’s a bit sad, really. If you play at a festival, maybe you can do something about that; you can stay a day longer or maybe you can come in a day earlier and experience something. Obviously, in Athens, there’s a ton of things to see; that’s the place you would go for vacation. I have friends that have done that, so…
– As a Death Metal specialist, give me your top three Death Metal albums of all time, giving the reason why you choose them.
Johnny Hedlund: Oh hell.. that’s a tough one! (Laughs) Well, of all time? I almost can’t do that, but I will give you the ones that started me off. I will give you the very very earliest ones
DEATH, “Scream Bloody Gore” (1987),
NECROPHAGIA, “Season of the Dead” (1987),
VENOM, “Black Metal” (1982).
Ιt’s hard because there are so many records that are absolutely fantastic, and now when people read this, they will say “What is your problem, man? How about SLAYER?” (Laughs)..
– …even VENOM back then, were supposed to play something like Black Metal music, but in our days their style could be characterized as N.W.O.B.H.M…
Johnny Hedlund: I’ve traded tapes with them back in the days, as well. «Altars of Madness» (1989) by MORBID ANGEL..that’s a milestone! That’s the one album that really got things going, so I could say that as well, of course. That’s kind of hard, you would want to do 20 records maybe. It’s more fair. (Laughs)
– You are UNLEASHED, your life is UNLEASHED. Give me one word describing the whole UNLEASHED story and all those years of the past.
Johnny Hedlund: Oh, that’s not easy.. One word: TRADITION. Because tradition means you’re going to continue. It’s not just five albums, it’s not just one show. Tradition means to keep going!
thank you very much for your time. It was an honor to have you in our web magazine. I hope we’ll see you soon in Greece on a hellish show because, in the 70000 Tons of Metal, you were one of the top bands, giving full energy and Death Metal vibes!
Johnny Hedlund: Oh yeah! Good to hear this! Thank you! Thank you very much!
Interview: Alexandros Soultatos
Text Transcription: Vasiliki Kalogera
Cover Artwork: Alexandros Soultatos
Design & Editing: Alexandros Soultatos
Date: February 1st, 2024
External Link: UNLEASHED – Official Page
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