‘A Pathway to the Moon’ by Unreqvited
‘A Pathway to the Moon’ by Unreqvited
Catharsis is often central to black metal, and atmospheric black metal artist Unreqvited is perhaps one of the best artists to gaze into nature, the stars, and the world around us to reflect and feel a larger connection to those around us and beyond. Previous albums like 2016’s Disquiet and 2020’s Empathica reveal that 鬼 (Ghost), the creative master behind Unreqvited, knows how to balance beauty and grief in a manner so expert that it sets too high a standard for many other artists wanting to accomplish the same. The artist’s most recent release, A Pathway to the Moon, continues to explore similar themes while making an impressive leap into new sounds and creative direction for the one-man project.
Notably, there’s a lot of clean singing on the album. This evolution comes due to Unreqvited’s desire to have more live performances. However, it also makes A Pathway to the Moon one of Unreqvited’s most blackgaze-forward albums.
“Overture: I Disintegrate” is a highly orchestral, serene, and sweeping ballad about surrendering to the cosmos's tides. The lyrics situate the album as a eulogy, but the next song adds tension to this theme.
“The Antimatter” erupts into more dramatic territory as the sweeping orchestral elements of the previous song are layered behind ravenous black metal riffage. Motifs from the opener are called back to during different movements of this epic 10-minute-long track. Towards the middle of the song, there's a prog influence, with thunderous syncopation over a rapid-fire harpsichord. The old and new sounds meld together, which the song’s lyrics also explore. Unreqvited attempts to hold two paradoxical sensations of death and the cosmos together with each verse. Lyrics like, “This is that where all life flourishes | This is that where life has faded | A place where two worlds overlap” create a tension between the grief of watching life fade from our plane of existence only to know another one has started. The song title itself plays with metaphysical tension as 鬼 screeches, “I am the altered, the origin | I am the divine pillar of creation | I am the afterimage | I am the antimatter.” There’s a mingling of the materialistic view of the cosmos and the spiritual, making this standout song a deeply layered and reflective moment for the listener to consider how they might hold all these things together within themselves at the same time.
The sonic landscape of A Pathway to the Moon upholds paradoxes further, with the guitar often having a twinkling, glittering quality that evokes the sensation of a star-filled night sky. The fast, light tremolo creates a sense of wonder while more thunderous and noisy distortion comes crashing in to cause tension with the awe-striking despair of the vastness of life and space that stirs in us sometimes. It’s often both of these sensations. “The Starforger” explores this through this same captivating composition while giving lyrical reflections like, “Raised in your embrace | A nurtured ember | Into a blaze … A newborn star | Rests in your palms.” While juggling this tension, 鬼’s serene vocal performance frequently acts as a lullaby, though tracks like “Void Essence / Frozen Tears” focus more on the 鬼’s harsh screams and dark riffage while exploring themes of grief and mourning.
As the album’s title suggests, A Pathway to the Moon is a journey, and the intensity of “Void Essence / Frozen Tears” transforms as “Into the Starlit Beyond” gives way to pensive, relaxing ambient chords and vocalization. A single reverbed snare echoes over the vast sounds as 鬼 sings a poignant contemplation about death: “How do I know | Where my soul will go | Hollow my bones | To wander evermore in the unknown.” The clean vocalization and screeches mix incredibly well together as the song pushes this theme further and calls out, “ Cradle me in the hand of God | Spirit departs into the starlit beyond.” Like much of the album, this track furthers the journey for the last two instrumental songs while holding paradoxes of ruminant post-rock, twinkling with bells and sweeping with piano with thunderous drums and distorted riffs. A Pathway to the Moon then lets music speak for itself on the calming “Celestial Sleep” and “Departure: Everlasting Dream.” Though the last song flows between moments of dramatic heights and small whispers of piano, both these songs act as a sonic ascension for the last bit of the album. A Pathway to the Moon wants to draw the listener into something higher, something even beyond the moon. Its lyrics, sounds, and composition all come together to create a highly creative and impressive exploration of our place in the cosmos, which makes us reflect on our place in life, with each other, and with God.
Unreqvited has crafted an impressive and immersive experience with A Pathway to the Moon, and the risks taken in the evolution of the artist’s sound pay off. Although Unreqvited’s music has always been cathartic and contemplative, A Pathway to the Moon further matures the artist as a creative force to reckon with in the black metal scene. Between syncopating old and new sounds with thought-provoking lyrics, Unreqvited pushes the boundaries not only sonically but thematically. Unreqvited understands something deeper than many other artists, as A Pathway to the Moon provides the listener with an experience to gaze into the vastness of the cosmos and not tumble into despair but instead hold a sense of grief, wonder, commonness, and hope all together within our hearts and minds.
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