Description

Box with red/yellow swirl vinyls, 2cd cassette and poster

Gotham City, from Umea, need no special introduction. Along with Heavy Load, Overdrive and a few other bands set the foundations for the powerful Swedish classic metal scene of today. Their same-titled 7” single, their EP Black Writs and their only full length release The Unknown are highly sought after collector’s items and among the most highly praised Scandinavian metal releases. Gotham City took a major step forward with The Unknown. The band kicked out Ola Ohlsson who sang on Black Writs and in came Anders Zackrisson, who is very competent singer and even manages to sound like he wants to be there. He’s no Bruce Dickinson, but he’s both skillful and passionate, and that’s more than one can reasonably expect from an unknown band like this. ‘The Unknown’ is a fine effort that hints at the epic heavy metal direction that a lot of NWOBHM bands would take in the later years, like Cloven Hoof did. The cover art even displays a drawn barbarian in the finest epic heavy metal tradition. For any fan of early heavy metal, Nwobhm or want to check out some of the best Swedish metal from the early days should get this album. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to listen to Battle Blade again. This 2024 re-issue comes with a bonus cd featuring 8 tracks recorded live at Krogen in 1985 and 2 demos from 1986

Track list:
1. Swords And Chains
2. The Beast Will Burn
3. See How It Flyes
4. Ravage In Town
5. Going Insane
6. Battle Blade
7. Learn From Your Leaders
8. Borderline
9. The Unknown
10. The Plague-live at Krogen 1985
11. 1995-live at Krogen 1985
12. Going Insane-live at Krogen 1985
13. From A Forgotten Time-live at Krogen 1985
14. Atlantic Ring-live at Krogen 1985
15. Fight And Die-live at Krogen 1985
16. Borderline-live at Krogen 1985
17. Swords And Chains-live at Krogen 1985
18. Hang On-demo 1986
19. Lost In Time-demo 1986