Unreqvited : "Beautiful Ghosts"

This Canadian project is under the impression that metal bands do not talk about romantic love so this is the topic of the new album. I am not sure what rock they have been living under as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, King Diamond, Megadeth, Slayer and more all have songs about it. This black gaze act might not have the most knowledge of music but they do step away from being just Deafheaven clones and since Deafheaven is no longer going to sound like themselves their throne is ripe for the taking. The first song uses more complex patterns and symphonic synths to separate themselves from the pack which I can appreciate. I think the second song does more dynamically which I appreciate even more, 

They go little overboard with the 5 minute ambient interlude. By they this is the sole work of a dude who refers to himself as a symbol.  The symphonic synths  drown out the guitar going into "Funeral Pyre" , until it breaks down into more post rock guitar and piano. The harsh vocals are mixed way back behind the drums and a more of a texture. I doubt there are any actual lyrics. If you crank this album louder you can hear them better, but they are not a focal point of the songs.  "Cherish" is a piano interlude that would have been better served worked into an actual song.

The drums wrestle with all the synths and pianos on the title track while the vocals roar in the distance and the guitars buzz around idlily The production is this album's worst enemy. There are some decent idea's that are well played but in collision with one another.. When it comes to songwriting they are certainly trying as hard as they can with this given idea. All if found has a great guitar tone and some tasteful licks, which I think we could have heard more of if the synths had been dialed back in the mix. The vocals were no great loss. I will give this one an 8.5, so not in the album of the year category when it comes to black metal, but a worthwhile listen if you want some cinematic post-black metalish tunes. 

Unreqvited ; "Disquiet"

Ok, the debut album from this black gaze band/ Lets see how long they can go without sounding like Deafheaven. Before you know you are on the third song. The post -rock element is a bigger deal here than the black metal. When they black metal comes it's in the sonic blur of blasting. While Deafheaven was not the first band to dip their toes in these waters, the way the static vocals sit in the mix almost holding their ground as the bands only metal elements bears a similar dynamic. The vocals are more anguished and depressive than what Deafheaven does. The keyboards also help to separate them from the bandwagon. Though sometimes make them indulgent and clutter up the album with atmospheric interludes.

The melody to "Maydena" is pretty thoughtful. The vocals when they do break the surface come out in the mix for so it doesn't sound like the are as far back behind the water fall of guitar they are trying to howl out from behind. The piano melodies also help give them some more identity. They hit more of a sonic sweet spot with this song, where they needed to be earlier in the album. Not that what they were doing previously was bad it was just not as lush or dynamic, which if you are a regular reader of this blog then you know those are two qualities I ask for from music.It is easy for these guys to lose their way and get consumed in the flowery piano parts, so what is the band's strength can also be their weakness if not balanced out. They take the flowers to more of an extreme on "Death" which closes out the album, while it sounds really huge when the guitars come back to add a more metal dyanmic it also takes them five minutes to get to that part. The bulk of this sounds sounds more like something from a movie soundtrack.

These guys do have a strong sense of dynamics I think on future album's it will be about finding the unhappy medium that is more metal, but retains the more symphonic side to what they do. So this si more like taking a symphonic black metal band and combining it with a atmospheric black metal band and then having them write the sound track to a movie. I'll give this an 8, as they do hit on some powerful moments and succeed at what they do , though they haven't convinced me they are a full blown metal band it sound like just a color they like to dabble in.