Review: Conjurer – Unself
The murky darkness of total despair
Post-metal! In all the decades metal music has been a cultural force, this very subgenre is one that has had a lot of acclaim, mainly by virtue of being a catch-all label that bands can use and just run with whatever ideas they may have. (A somewhat accepted definition of post-metal boils down to experimental metal, or a more avant-garde offshoot of sludge metal.) This brings me to UK act Conjurer who have garnered a lot of acclaim themselves in their scene after their debut album, and have taken the next step by signing with Nuclear Blast, who released their sophomore record which was also highly rated. All this set up and quick info to get into Conjurer’s third LP Unself.
I wanted to get all that out of the way and quickly mention post-metal because Conjurer is a prime example of how that simple label has its convenient uses, but it’s also limiting, mainly because Unself is a record that’s all over the place, in a good way. The band’s overall sound does have a strong sludge metal core, heavy and meaty riffs, slow tempos and an overall bleak atmosphere; however, the band doesn’t sit still with these, as the album opens with a folk song that’s almost country in tone, that then turns into a noisy metal track. The band then builds into an outburst with discordant feedback and the record for the most part keeps that intensity at all times.
Aside from the intro title track, the mid-album break is a mostly instrumental track “A Plea;” I say mostly because it features a very effective sample of a Spanish-spoken diatribe by Carla Antonelli which perfectly encapsulates the lyrics against oppression and discrimination while keeping the bleak and depressive atmosphere. While the sad and dark tone of the music is something I thoroughly enjoy, I do understand why some people may not vibe with it. Art is subjective and all, but I do feel more people should engage with music that’s not on the sunnier side. Aside from the instrumentation the vocals here also follow suit in keeping the bleakness; Dan Nightingale and Brady Deeprose share the vocals and guitars, and they balance harsh and loud screams and growls with equally depressed crooning. While the record does keep a consistent tone, the band does add a lot of dynamics amid the intensity: the change of vocals or the aforementioned intro and interlude tracks keep the record from falling into monotony, but they also know exactly when to focus on pure aggression and when to let the somberness take center stage.
The final aspect worth highlighting is the production, which is of course excellent. The sound is very full and crisp; despite the vocals and guitars being more present, the drums, bass and additional instruments have enough space and attention given, so the overall mixing is very balanced, particularly with how visceral the vocals sound.
I mentioned earlier how the simplistic tag of post-metal gives the music a certain identity while granting bands a much more flexible framework to experiment with their sounds; Conjurer succeeds at defining their sound while still experimenting with how dark their music can get. The only thing that prevents me from giving this record a perfect score is that it feels like the band hasn’t gone far enough with their sound. They do come close, the dynamics and balancing of heaviness and headiness is excellent, and the band is in top shape and fully defined, but I want to see them take it even further in the foreseeable future. A really solid and expertly performed record with a great display of restraint in heaviness, just falling a bit short of absolute perfection.
3.5/5 Flaming Toilets ov Hell
Unself releases October 24 through Nuclear Blast Records.
