From Bandcamp, “The seventh album, "A Pathway to the Moon," is taking an impressive evolutionary leap. One element of this significant sonic development of UNREQVITED is the novel exploration into a predominantly lyrical realm. This step away from mostly expansive soundscapes towards more singing is also due to the transition of UNREQVITED into a touring band. 鬼 carefully crafted "A Pathway to the Moon" with live performances in his mind. The result is an album that resembles a Blackgaze soundtrack.”

The album has seven songs, and “Overture I: Disintegrate” is first. The clean vocals are indeed a surprise, and a nice one at that. They are soft, gentle, and combine very well with piano notes and ambiance. “The Antimatter” pulls the pendulum sharply back into the realm of Black Metal, with screaming vocals, and aggression in both the guitars and drums. But there are also moments of melody…they are dark, and mysterious to boot. This album is indeed different from some of the band’s earlier work, and I still find some of the soundscapes to be quite expansive. The bass work, clean vocals, and atmospheres created here hint at a re-birth of sound.

“The Starforger” has gorgeous opening clean guitars. For me, they reflect a multitude of feelings…some longing, some sad, and some wonderous. Clean guitars combine with harsh vocals that bite at times, and are gentle at others, and neither side is content with taking over…instead, they live in perfect harmony. “Void Essence/Frozen Tears” almost sounds to me like time is standing still…the slow pace, the heavy dose of emotions in the vocals, and the use of fate keyboard notes makes me picture gazing up a starlit sky at night with nothing but the wonder of the universe on my mind. It’s so pretty, it makes my heart ache.

“Into the Starlit Beyond” is a shorter song that focuses mostly on virtues like hope, love, and everything that is best in life, and its simple beauty leaves me with my jaw on the ground. I never knew that 鬼 had such a nice voice. “Celestial Sleep” is a short two-minutes, re-setting the album back to the starting point before the final push of “Departure: Everlasting Dream.” It’s yet another gorgeous offering and reminds me of the beauty of death. As Oscar Wilde said, “death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.”

I went into the new album expecting to hear more of the same sound as the past, which I loved, so why not? I was not expecting the wonderous transformation in sound that I heard here. 鬼has always made beautiful music, but the clean vocals add another layer of artistic and even spiritual sublimity to the album. The way that they co-exist with the aggression of Black Metal is key to the sound. Gazing at the moon as meditation may sound a little “out there,” but some say it can help you find a sense of peace and calm and instill a sense of wonder. It’s only January 5, and I already have a contender for album of the year.