album review: 'beautiful ghosts' by unreqvited

You know, I’ve started reviews like this frustrated that I’m late to the party. In this case, though… yeah, the majority of you haven’t heard of this act or would have cared to look - even despite the fact that I reviewed an album from this act just last year - and that means the true struggle will be a desperate hope that the review will be shared and perhaps spread the word about something really special.

But I should back up a bit: last year in the course of Bandcamp diving I discovered a one-person, Canadian black metal act from Ottawa. They were called Unreqvited, and while on the surface you might think they would fall into the slurry of clumsily produced one-person atmospheric black metal that floods that site, I found a lot more to like. The compositions were more robust, borderline symphonic, and even if the lyrics were borderline inaudible with the screams buried so far deep, the melodies and swell were so compelling I had to review and recommend it. Now I did have issues with that 2020 album - it was really damn pretty but paced in awkward ways, more of a mood piece that kind of hit a deep lull by the end, and I found myself wishing there were more moments that leapt off the page - but it was enough where I wanted to keep my eye on this act, where I was surprised they had a spare Twitter presence and also seemed to reflect less of the questionable factors that can unnerve me when delving into the unknown territories of underground black metal. So when I heard about Beautiful Ghosts, even if I knew nobody was going to request it, I wanted to dig in regardless - what did I find?

Well folks… on some level a review like this becomes complicated because not only are the lyrics not available anywhere - granted, given how inaudible the vocals often are that hardly matters - but also because a review of this probably just boils down to a few statements: this is some of the most beautiful and deeply romantic symphonic black metal I’ve heard in years, where you can not only recognize the improvements across the board, but also how it feels so seamlessly transgressive within this framework, the sort of album that makes sense to fit within the genre but is also doing something subtly different so well you have to just marvel at it. Now normally this is where you drag out the Deafheaven or Alcest comparisons for a prettier stripe of atmospheric black metal, but I don’t really think that fits here, because while it is more melodic and tuneful, I’m not sure that automatically makes this more accessible, and that’s the big reason I find this album so fascinating - not to mention just goddamn amazing, but we’ll get into more of that!

So let’s start there: normally I’m the critic who draws a hard line about needing to have the lyrics, so what’s the difference here? Well, part of it is the same argument of practicality from last time: like on the last album, the howls on this album are so buried and indecipherable beneath the waves of orchestral instrumentation and shredding that I don’t think I could have made out words if I tried, but that’s not the only place vocals are placed on the project. Indeed, on slower cuts like ‘Reverie’, they’re placed closer to the front and while they’re not singing words, they fit within the spirit of the album, augmenting the choral texture to add a little more to the symphonic experience. They’re half-heard amidst the mist and atmosphere, partially to contribute to the crescendos and dramatic swell, but also on an album titled beautiful ghosts, wouldn’t it make sense for the voices to sound like they’re just beyond, just out of reach? It creates the impression of reaching out across the expanse to grasp a story that’s more present in abstract textures and ambient moments, and when you realize that there might be flickers of long-distant romance amidst the windswept landscapes, it invests you in the picture while building the realization you’ll never quite grasp all of it. You can try to parse fragments of a thematic arc from track titles and the shifts in mood - a death, a feeling that said love still exists across time and space, and then… perhaps a reunion on the other side?

Now I’m not about to act like black metal hasn’t explored themes of love before - even if more often than not it’s more carnal or ending in grisly despair - but there’s something to be said about how Unreqvited frames with sheer dogged abandon and cinematic ambition which might ring closer to the montage music of an epic romance film full of wide angle shots and sweeping landscapes. And considering this album occasionally tips into outright symphonic and post-metal passages where a piano anchors the lead melody or the guitars sound more approachable and liquid, even as on cuts like ‘Cherish’ and the title track it lingers over haunted spaces where the mix crackles around the edges or strings and even horns ramp up the dramatic swell, it might be easy to see how on pure melodic beauty an album like this would pull in an enraptured audience. And yet… it’s still just as heavy, the tremolo shredding and drumwork is explosive, and good luck making up a single word as the screams cut through the mix - this is painting a romance of a different kind, where an album like this can live in blackened spaces and feel like it fits, but also serves as the pure blast of crystalline light and air, where heart-wrenching devotion and passion might be as scary to confront as anything howled from the true kvlt crowd. Certainly less “transgressive” in an era where black metal has had its doors shoved open to more genre diversity and modes of expression, but again, this is an album that’s using black metal tools and textures to create romance, where it can sound huge and pulse-pounding but isn’t that what passionate love can be at its strongest moments? I remember saying years ago that metal power ballads deserve the same level of critical acclaim as those in any other genre because they can go for broke and capture that swell and scope, and Unreqvited proved without words that you can understand you can still create that same gripping emotional swell - you need to be a phenomenal melodic composer to pry forth those emotions, and this album is the best centerpiece for it to date without feeling saccharine or cloying or precious; when the screaming is still there, it can’t really be that!

And at this point there’s a part of me that just wants to gush over how goddamn gorgeous this album sounds, where there are honestly very few moments where I can complain! Maybe ‘Cherish’ feels a bit short, or ‘Funeral Pyre’ has that choppy passage across the first few minutes I didn’t love, and if I were to drill a bit deeper into my biggest nitpick it’s probably how I wish the bass grooves were a bit more defined and guttural across this project. Oh, they’re there and pretty amazing driving the insane leadwork on ‘All Is Lost’, and the more progressive rhythms on ‘Autumn & Everley’, and I love the subtle texture that creeps along the edges of the title track, and how ‘All Is Found’ ends on a fantastic crescendo that effectively solves my issue with Empathetica with its slow ending by delivering a cinematic finale that also knows how to end on a soft-focus moment, but if there was one thing that would put this fully over the top, the bass grooves could be a little stronger. But otherwise, there’s just so many melodic moments that are absolutely spellbinding: I love how directly the album starts on ‘All Is Lost’ with so many melodic changeups, I love how well the album is paced where while there are slower moments they don’t drag, I love how the cyclical piano progressions drive and then augment the melodies on ‘Autumn & Everley’ and the title track, but they serve as a great counterbalance to the riffs. I love how consistently strong the drumwork is - maybe not as explosive with the blast beats as some might expective, but there’s more progressive elements and overall the kit is well-micced to sound interesting and thunderous where need be. And while you can tell the symphonic arrangements are not quite as organic and robust as, say, the last Epica album - hey, with a black metal budget I can’t really blame him - the fact that it still sounds as great as it does while making sure the atmosphere has room to breathe; the dynamics on this album are just phenomenal, which is a real credit to the engineering and production where this could have gone awry so easily, especially with the raw moments that are still here!

And really, I’m not sure I can add much more before it just becomes the poetry of emotions Unreqvited creates - albums that can capture the balance between the wild rawness of passion and its shimmering ecstasy at climax are so rare, something that heavier music is uniquely equipped to approach, but what I love is how this album doesn’t feel melodramatic or forced either. This is free-flowing where the dramatic stakes feel lived, where the stereotypical tropes of romance are boiled away to drill into a center that yearns so powerfully. A lot of music finds the reality of love by drilling into intimacy, and this album has those moments… but it also augments them alongside the epic sweep of how it could feel like so much more, how it can feel transcendent, everything that passion and devotion can represent on the grandest scale, where it’s too visceral to be corny or saccharine should you take the plunge to embrace it. And as of now… this is the best metal album I’ve heard all year. Easy 9/10, the highest of my recommendations - on tune alone I would recommend this, but with everything assembled around it… yeah, it’s transcendent. And y’all need to hear it.