Review by Saxy S for Unreqvited - A Pathway to the Moon (2025)

The second of my most anticipated early black metal albums for 2025 is Ottawa's Unreqvited. I've been lauding this ensemble since Empathica in 2020 and 2021's Beautiful Ghosts was a atmospheric/post-metal marvel. I always appreciated how well the songwriting here was above all else, especially since the band always did it without traditional vocals. Rather than using words to depict meaning, the voice was always used as a complimentary instrument, which highlighted both the brilliant instrumentation/production, but also the focus squarely on the melody.

But in 2024 that changed. "The Starforger" was to be the first promotional single for A Pathway to the Moon and it surprisingly featured spoken word vocals. And while my initial reaction was trepidation, I did come around to them. "The Starforger" has all of the mannerisms that one would expect from an Unreqvited song. But within the context of the album, the consistency just isn't there. For some reason, the heaviness that persists on "The Anitmatter" just does not pair well with the vocal timbre, and it may leave some questions as to how these two songs can be paired together on the album? It isn't that the vocals are bad, but the cleanliness in some of the execution just feels off. Unreqvited have always pride themselves on dreamlike atmosphere, so a cleaner, almost metalcore production can be a huge red flag for some.

Unreqvited are not well known for their pummeling black metal roots; instead choosing Alcest tempered shoegaze for their foundation. And the foundation here is still wonderful. Some of those melodic lines on "The Starforger" and "Void Esssence/Frozen Tears" are enough to make even the most stone faced of metalheads fall to their knees and weep. And they always manage to do it with fantastic production. I know I'll be in the minority here, but I for one really enjoyed the 90s R&B synth infusion on "Departure: Everlasting Dream" (hello Sleep Token) and much of the albums more traditional synth work on "Into the Starlit Beyond".

But where the album loses me is the pacing. I always preface this by saying songs like "Into the Starlit Beyond" and "Departure: Everlasting Dream" will sound wonderful on their own, but as apart of a record, they do fall flat. This fumbling occurs because Unreqvited have too many softer, post-rock tracks in a row and the intensity of A Pathway to the Moon just grinds to a halt. Perhaps this is conceptual; as a matter of fact, the entirety of this album has the perception of becoming consistently slower from "The Antimatter" all the way to its conclusion. But even by those standards, this record could use a jolt of energy interspersed between the final three tracks.

The ending is a stylistically appropriate touch where Unreqvited revert back to textural singing and end the album on an uplifting note. Beautiful Ghosts was a record that found me at just the right time. It was a record that had no explicit meaning or themes, but given my position in 2021, Beautiful Ghosts left me breathless. In 2025, A Pathway to the Moon does not find me at such a vulnerable time, so it's easy for me to criticize it more for its shortcomings. Bur even at its worst, A Pathway to the Moon represents another wonderful album, one that I will gladly take the cosmic journey again.

Best Songs: The Starforger, Void Essence/Frozen Tears, Into the Starlit Beyond, Departure: Everlasting Dream