I've never heard a band play music that sounds so much like sailing music for a Viking ship that were from the US.. and a landlocked state nonetheless. The vocals are totally black metal. There aren't any two ways about it. The burning throat, scatching scowls are hideous. The group makes extensive use of operatic female vocals as well, although I'm starting to think that they may be performed by a male (as I see no female mention in the credits), which are both beautiful and compelling. Musically, it's a lot of tremolo picking and single note melodies. Again, much akin to bands like Enslaved. The drumming is kept mid-paced to slow, barely ever hitting blast beat sections, although double bass is used quite a bit. The production is a little quiet, but the mix is good. Normally I'd be a little more annoyed by this, but I think it's appropriate since many of Europe's finest black metal bands strive for such a second rate sound.

As bands continue to bridge the gap between metal and hardcore, Dead Blue Sky are soon going to be recognized as one of the bands doing as much as possible to bring these styles together. "Symptoms of an Unwanted Emotion" is a testament to the fact that you don't have to have long hair, wear corpse paint and reside in the coldest part of Scandinavia to write quality black metal. Furthermore, with the inclusion of hardcore overtones, it shows that the two types of music are inherently similar, an aspect that should be tampered with a bit more in the future. This is a gem.