Premiere: Unreqvited – Stars Wept to the Sea
Did a certain atmospheric black metal space band bum you out with their last surprise release? Not naming names or anything. We have the fix for you!
We are thrilled to bring you the premiere of Unreqvited’s Stars Wept to the Sea. If you’ve never heard of this outstanding one-man project, get strapped in for some top-tier “background black metal”. Or at least that’s what I call it. Standing somewhere between Mesarthim and Ghost Bath (more towards the former), I use this term for music that doesn’t really aim to command your attention, but instead floats around in the back of your head, swimming and pulling cords. It takes you to a specific place or state of mind, even if you are firmly rooted in some goddamn spreadsheet.
Where Mesarthim is electronic black metal entirely in space, Unreqvited delivers it from earth but gazing into an infinitely black sky. Among the tremolos blast beats, delicate synth taps sound like blinking orbiting satellites. Part random, part synced to some cosmic order. There’s a constant depressed but hopeful melody with natural sounds scattered about.
The most impressive part of Stars Wept to the Sea is the depth of sound. The exquisite layering is exemplified right at the start with the grandiose orchestral introduction. I’m assuming a lot of this is electronically produced, but if you don’t let silly things like that bother you, it’s a miraculously full sounding production.
Though just about every song has an explosive build up, the single “Stardust” has one of those simple but memorable riffs that is perfect for tapping the gunpowder. The back half of the album (besides the epic conclusion) is mostly occupied by the atmospheric stuff, really digging you into the intended frame of mind. If you’re just craving blast beats, you’ll see there’s benefit to holding back for a few minutes.
With pretty much just a debut and a split, to his name, the improvement on this second album (especially in the production) is huge. This project is going places.
Stars Wept to the Sea is out today, grab it over on Bandcamp.
