Richard Sjunnesson

I’ve decided to do a little 2012 recap on this fateful day. Some of the top 5 highlights from both the band and my life. 

:: TOP 5 UNGUIDED HIGHLIGHTS OF 2012 ::

1. invaZion EP
To finally release a preview of what will definitely be the best part of 2013 (the new album!) at the rumored doomsday (2012-12-21) was surely something special. The awesome reception by the fans of the two new songs and the fact we archived this release entirely by our own engine. Underlined a huge milestone in our short but focused history. Thanks for making this important release as successful as it showed (and needed) to be. Fueled by unguided nitroglycerin and an iron will, we are belting out those album tracks one by one. The fans; will blatantly not be disappointed. And that’s a promise, I have no intensions of straying from. Listen to the songs here: iTunes, Amazon.com, Spotify

The Unguided - invaZion

Vocal recording

Studio Sällström Audio

invaZion Poster / EP

 

2. Betrayer Of The Code MV
Once again, together with you, the impressive guys over at 11Frames Productions and a hard working band and its associates. We archived the most complex, extensive and beautiful music video in our carrier. Betrayer Of The Code, thematically based on Anne Rice’s; Queen Of The Damned and Vampire Chronicle books, took a lot of time, effort and money from all of us. But the result is as stunning as the original vision! To finally be able to do a music video that was directly tied to the lyrical content, was something special for me personally, since that’s nothing that’s really been on the map before. See the video here.


The Unguided - Betrayer of the code

"God damned us"

Mekare and Maharet

Creating vampires on the set

Drum 'N' Bass


The killing of the Queen

Wrapping up after two nights of filming

From the music video / artwork by J.A.Aranguren

 

3. Bringing Hell Frost TOUR
Launching the band on its virgin voyage, across Germany, to support the debut album Hell Frost was definitely nothing we expected when we formed the band late 2010. Due to various reasons, The Unguided was not supposed to be a touring band. But as we didn’t want to disappoint the loyal fans outside of Sweden; we made an exception and decided to go that extra mile and ignore some of our principles. During the spring of 2012 we joined forces with Deadlock and Devastating Enemy and made Germany and its surroundings unsafe for a period of time. A time that was definitely worth every personal sacrifice!

Bringing Hell Frost Tour 2012

Leaving Sweden

Die hard German fans

Deadlock + The Unguided = <3

 

4. Pandora’s Box BOX SET
The ultimate Hell Frost collection featuring a total of 14 CD’s with all sorts of goodies (pre-productions, instrumentals, remixes) you could wish for as a fan. And also with the highly anticipated lost and found song Deathwalker, which unfortunately couldn’t make it to the Hell Frost release, but appeared in its full glory on Pandora’s Box. To make a production as complicated as this, is surely something a lot of labels would back away from. But with the united powers of The Unguided, Jonas Kjellgren and Despotz we prevailed (after some frustration and delays of course hehe)! Get the box set here, listen to Deathwalker here: iTunes, Amazon.com, Spotify.

The Unguided - Pandora's Box

14 CDs!

Deathwalker

 

5. Phoenix Down MV
The premiere and introduction video of The Unguided, directed by our longtime friend; Patric Ullaeus and his Revolver Film Company, struck the beginning of the year with full force. The video visualize one of the favorite songs from Hell Frost and portrays a band reborn in its right element. See the video here.


The Unguided - Phoenix Down

Artwork by J.A.Aranguren

Henric on set

Patric Ullaeus

 

:: TOP 5 LIFE HIGHLIGHTS OF 2012 ::

1. Moving to Stockholm
There’s many highlights of 2012, but this one is surely the brightest of them all. To finally be able to eliminate that stupid distance between me and my love and move out from Falkenberg on the west coast of Sweden, to the capital of Scandinavia on the east coast. Definitely made my life a lot happier.

Stockholm

Moving

Fixing

 

2. Gotland vacation
To indulge ourselves, in a well needed week long vacation, at Sweden’s largest island; Gotland. Was also a very special occasion of 2012. Just to relax in the beautiful medieval city of Visby and explore the island and all the mind-blowing scenery was a sensation in itself.

Visby

Shieldmaiden

Sea stacks at southern Gotland

At Fårö

 

3. Sandhamn vacation
I haven’t seen much of the Swedish archipelago. And to set that straight, Ella booked a surprise trip to Sandhamn during the summer. Usually these parts of the archipelago are infested by brats (upper class youth), which I don’t go very well together with, seeing my bad to the bone metal background. But during this week, they were busy “washing champagne” elsewhere, so Sandhamn was practically empty. We had a wonderful stay here!

Sandhamn

Elven woods

At sunset

Leaving Sandhamn

 

4. 28^th Birthday
I hardly remember how old I am anymore since it’s uncomfortably close to that fatal 30 number, but on this day Ella reminded me with a Playstation 3! That definitely made me feel more blissful and younger.

Playstation 3

BEST.BIRTHDAY.EVER!

Strawberry-Honey Ice Cream

 

5. Manowar
At Ella’s birthday and at the annual Getaway Rock festival, I finally got to see Manowar live for the first time. Manowar is my childhood heroes and the band that shaped my only ideology in life, namely: "If you're not into Metal - you are not my friend!" The show was period the best I’ve seen in my entire life. I’m not objective.

Manowar

Manowar at Getaway Rock Festival 2012

Fighting the world

 

So that’s that! As you know I’ve been doing these “Song of the day” posts on my official Facebook every day. And today was the final song of the year! You can check the entire 2012 playlist here, that’s basically your soundtrack for 2012!!!

Happy new year everyone! 2013 will be immense.

Song of the day: The Unguided – Betrayer of the code

/Rich