Closure
Unravel

"Closure" is an emotionally and musically heavy and unique album from Belgian metalcore band UNRAVEL. I loved how this opened with "Burning Sky", an instrumental track, and how it progressively got heavier. I thought it was interesting to open with an instrumental song when one of the unique things about the band is the male vs. female vocals, but it was a great start. This is an album that I judged kind of harshly at first, but the more I listened to it, the more I liked it. This album is very vocal-focused, in my opinion. There isn't a lot as far as the guitars or drums that stands out too much, although none of it is bad. The contrast between the clean female vocals and the male screams and growls is what really makes this stand out. She's a little bit pop punk and he's a little bit metalcore. Lyrically, the album focuses a lot on internal struggles, mental illness, and issues with society. "Remember" is about dementia and losing loved ones specifically. It's definitely full of subject matters a lot of people could find relatable and important. That's one of the things that draws me to it.
The ending of "Admission of Guilt" at about 3:00 is really awesome. I like how the male vocalist does some spoken word layered with the female singing. And then it gets back to being heavy. This one has some encouragement for those dealing with mental illness: "I'm coming back to life." The beginning of "Eternal Forgiveness" showcases some of the best of the female vocals. She has a pretty good voice, it's just nothing that particularly stands out, but something about how it sounds on Eternal Forgiveness is really nice. Most of the time her voice just lacks emotion on an album with quite emotional subjects.
A favorite track on this album is "Survive". I love the opening guitars and I enjoy the melodies in it. The riffs in here are really catchy and the chorus is quite catchy, too. I like the 2:06 mark where screams are layered over the singing. I also really like the direction of the song once it gets to about the 2:30 mark right before it hits the breakdown. It's a fun song, musically, although the subject matter in their lyrics tends to be fairly dark.
"Remember" begins a lot like a pop punk song and seems to be heavily influenced by that genre. It kind of reminds me of a PARAMORE song. This one even has only female vocals up until about the 3:43 mark where we get some more screams. It's definitely not as heavy as the rest of the album, but not so lacking in their overall sound that it doesn't fit in here. I love the lyrics "Kiss my cheek and hold my hand/My head is weak/Not easy to understand." "Black Sunday" is pretty heavy, which I like. It's one of my other favorite tracks on the album. I love the lyrics "Can we not see the victims are not to blame?" These lyrics start out being sung by the female then end being screamed by the male. The breakdown is really cool, and I like that the last words seem to make a final statement that their minds will not be changed. Overall, it's a strong ending for the album.
7 / 10
Good
Songwriting
Musicianship
Memorability
Production
"Closure" Track-listing:
1. Burning Sky
2. The End of My Rope
3. Persist
4. Admission of Guilt
5. Our Escape
6. Caged
7. Survive
8. Remember
9. Eternal Forgiveness
10. Black Sunday
Unravel Lineup:
Gaelle De Veene - Vocals
Gilles Derijcke - Vocals
Arend Standaert - Guitar
Lorenz Catterman - Guitar
Enzo Standaert - Bass
Jordy Moerman - Drums
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