Hailing from Minnesota, USA, comes Experimental Black Metal band UNSOULING. It seems the primary songwriter, A.S., wants to keep an air of mystery to the music, as the EPK was blank as far as any biographical data does. This is his second full-length effort, and it has seven songs. “Immaterial Entrance” is first. Eerie sounds enter, like you might hear beneath the bed of morning fog. Meaty bass guitar notes follow, along with the thud of drums. The vocals are harsh, and tortured, and the song rides the fence nicely between aggression and hopelessness. “Your Momentary Passing” has Post Metal vibes for me. The music is somewhere between gentle and melodic, but the vocals reflect the harshness of the subject. The change of pace is nice, and it still lives and breathes darkness.

“To Come Unbound” also has Post Metal vibes, particularly in the emotional sterility of the music. I know those two terms seem contradictory, but they can exist together. The vocals are whispered, almost as if the subject doesn’t have enough left in him to belt them out at first. But pain can’t be contained, as he screams. “Grief Reconfigured” has a much firmer entrance, and a lot of aggression. Grief can take many forms…sometimes anger, other times deep withdrawal. Here the anger seems to be the most important emotion. “Towering Black Wave” is just that…a slow and powerful song that mimics the sometimes quiet power of a massive wave. Smooth keyboards and meaty bass notes carry the sound forward, and that wave hangs on the edge of your view. When it finally breaks, the power is unmatched.

“Passages” is a short instrumental break from some of the earlier aggression and madness. For me, it’s about reflection. “Dissolved in Spiritus” is the final offering, and it features some smooth and solemn music at times under bed of contentious vocals. It shifts to aggression, and then back, as the artist shows great restraint in letting that aggression take over. Overall, this was a Black Metal album that expands your definition of the genre. At times, it has fierce aggression, while at others, it is more solemn. The artist also mixes in some Post element to keep in modern. I invite you to take in the “Onward Stream of Devotional Woe” and discover some of its secrets for yourself.