Unreqvited

Unreqvited – Beautiful Ghosts Review

By Carcharodon on August 11, 2021 in Reviews, Ambient Metal, 30 comments

“Hi gang, what did I miss? Having taken July as a mini sabbatical following the arrival of a second shark pup, it’s nice to find the site still standing (no thanks to the readers or most of the staff) and to get back into the swing of things with a familiar face. Unreqvited and I go way back to my nameless_n00b days, when its third full-length album, Mosaic I: L’amour et l’ardeur, became the very first to get a 4.0 out of me. Its sequel, Mosaic II: La déteste et la détresse, failed to scale quite the same heights due to a very weak final third, which really held back an otherwise very good album. We somehow missed Unreqvited’s next full-length installment, last year’s Empathica, altogether and so we here we find ourselves, exploring love and passion on sixth outing, Beautiful Ghosts.” Ghosts or just ghosted?

Funeral Fullmoon – Poetry of the Death Poison Review

By Carcharodon on May 17, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, 16 comments

“It’s a mere four months since I reviewed Revelation of Evil, the full-length debut from Chilean one-man black metal project Funeral Fullmoon and, frankly, I didn’t expect see him back so soon. Now, part of the reason it’s only been four months is because the January release of Revelation of Evil was in fact a re-issue through Inferna Profundus Records of a cassette-only release from last September, something I discovered about quite late into the writing process. Even allowing for my own failures here, that’s still only an eight-month turnaround from the man currently going by the name Magister Nihilifer Vendetta 218.” Vardan the interruption.

Nordicwinter – Sorrow Review

By Carcharodon on March 29, 2021 in Reviews, 17 comments

“I don’t know how much the brand Ronseal means to people outside the UK but here, it immediately conjures an advertising slogan: “Does exactly what it says on the tin.” Sometimes, you come across bands that embody this. Nordicwinter is Ronseal. Despite being from Canada, it would appear that its very raison d’être is to deliver in audible form the desolate, lonely wastes of a single Scandinavian season – I’m not going to say it, you know, the one … traditionally between Autumn and Spring. Sorrow takes this to extremes, however.” 12 inches of Sorrow.

The EP, Split, and Single Post [Things You Might Have Missed 2020] Part III

By El Cuervo on January 3, 2021 in Things You Might Have Missed 2020, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, Sludge Metal, Speed Metal, Technical Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 44 comments

“The neglected, forgotten children; that’s what this post is about. Full-length albums are the proud first-born, strutting about with muscular arms and a beautiful face. But EPs?” Three times’ the harm.

Eyeless in Gaza – Act I: The Protagonist Review

By Carcharodon on May 28, 2020 in Reviews, Ambient Metal, Doom Metal, 19 comments

“Band names are important. They can often tell you a lot about a band or artist. Of course, the music matters most but I will frequently, while plumbing the murkier depths of Bandcamp, stick on a track purely on the strength of a band’s name. That is how I came to find Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean, for example. Conversely, a poor name can be a big negative, although, as Gazpacho demonstrate, a stellar band can rise above a terrible moniker. Every now and again though, I stumble across something I want to like simply because of the name. And that is how I feel about Eyeless in Gaza.” What’s in a name?

Porta Nigra – Schöpfungswut Review

By Carcharodon on January 15, 2020 in 2020, Black Metal, German Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Reviews, Soulseller Records, Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal, 46 comments

“I feel that I have not had the opportunity to review enough stuff from my countryfolk. It was with a certain amount of anticipation, therefore, that I pulled Schöpfungswut (Wrath of Creation), the third full-length by Porta Nigra, from the toxic waste of the promo pit. I had assumed, given their name, that they hailed from Trier, a town that houses the Roman Porta Nigra (Black Gate) and of which I am rather fond. We can safely dispense with the Trier history lesson I was planning to embark on, however, as they are from Koblenz, a city I know nothing about.” Hug your neighbors, then stab them.

Unreqvited – Mosaic II: La déteste et la détresse Review

By Carcharodon on January 7, 2020 in 2020, Ambient Metal, Canadian Metal, Post-metal, Prophecy Productions, Reviews, Ambient Metal, Post-Metal, 38 comments

“The more wizened experienced writers on staff say it’s best never to go back and read your early reviews. This is the first occasion I have had to really ponder the wisdom in these words. Unreqvited’s Mosaic I: Mosaic I: L’amour et l’ardeur was just the third n00b review I penned for these venerable pages and it is the first band I am reviewing here for a second time.” Shark teeth and time.

The EP, Split, and Single Post Part II [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]

By El Cuervo on December 24, 2019 in Ambient, American Metal, Black Metal, Canadian Metal, Death Metal, Deathcore, Doom Metal, English Metal, Heavy Metal, International Metal, Italian Metal, Scottish Metal, Spanish Metal, Synthwave, Technical Death Metal, Things You Might Have Missed 2019, Thrash Metal, Ambient, Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock, Speed Metal, Synthwave, Technical Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 29 comments

Did you miss all the rest of the crucial EPs, splits and singles in 2019? We’ve got you covered again, broheim.

Ashbringer – Absolution Review

By Carcharodon on June 26, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Black Metal, Experimental Metal, Post-metal, Prosthetic Records, Reviews, Black Metal, Folk Metal, Post-Metal, 36 comments

“When Grymm awarded Ashbringer’s debut, Vacant, a deserved 3.5 back in 2015, he was writing about the self-released exploits of a one-man black metal project, delivered by someone then aged 18. Scroll forward four years and Nick Stanger, Mr. Ashbringer himself, has, presumably, reached the ripe old age of 20-something. He’s also released a second record (2016’s Yūgen, which we failed to review), gathered around him a group of three other musicians and signed a deal with Prosthetic Records. Now a four-person collective – or ‘band,’ if you will – Ashbringer are ready to drop their third album, Absolution.”

Unreqvited – Mosaic I: L’Amour et L’Ardeur Review

By Carcharodon on November 19, 2018 in 2018, Black Metal, Canadian Metal, Northern Silence Productions, Post-metal, Reviews, 83 comments

“Time for a confession, dear reader, one that I hope will not cost me the “exalted” position of Nameless N00b_17: I am not a follower of the trve faith and, try as I might, cannot enjoy black metal. I know, I know, it’s all about the atmospherics, the stripped-back aggression, the chilling extremity… but, to be frank, I find myself unable to appreciate the, um, subtleties of Gorgoroth or Marduk. So it was with a certain sense of trepidation that I approached Mosaic I: L’Amour et L’Ardeur, the third album from Canada’s Unreqvited.” Northern sadness.