If we’re going to take into consideration all the black metal acts that have come around in the last ten years and brought about great change within their catalog, we could sit here for days going from one band to the next that offered a lot and somehow threw down more. As a name that has done so many times over and has been along a journey of evolution and inflection since the beginning, Unreqvited has never been one to confine to the norms of what many consider for atmospheric black metal, and that has only furthered the excellence at play with the act’s sound. Now, eight years since its inception and debut, Unreqvited continues its trend into haunting beauty with this forthcoming work almost certain to be a highlight for early 2025 in all things black metal.

Not terribly often are we brought before a creation of black metal, a sound that is associated with great violence and blasphemy, and bear witness to an effort that is undeniably beautiful in nature with the deeper nuances of the work offering a harsh reality that betrays its seemingly serene shell. For years now, Unreqvited has been synonymous with much of that with time only honing the gorgeous craft that the act has always brought to the table, and that proves to be no difference with everything brought forth within “Pathway to the Moon”. Damn near tear-inducing for how gorgeous it can be in even its simplest moments, it’s in the vastness of these eight tracks that Unreqvited unfolds its whole repertoire of unparalleled mastery and understanding over this style while simultaneously somehow accomplishing the feat of taking its sonic evolution a step further. The heights reached are higher than ever before and the flavors are the richest they’ve ever been within “Pathway of the Moon” as Unreqvited once more tears the human soul asunder and excavates everything therein while more than enough tact, delicacy, and intensity of a sort that can only be described as raw and primal. This is black metal of a sort that Unreqvited has become truly known for: black metal that extends well past the conventional borders of the genre and becomes something far more with enough light and color alongside the darkness inside to make for a highly contrasting work with more than enough peaks and valleys that one could ask for.

“Pathway to the Moon” continues down the path that Unreqvited has been carving out for itself for several years now, and words can only do so much justice for a work such as this. Immensely layered and with all the passion and evocative notions that could ever be poured into a work of this kind, “Pathway to the Moon” shoots for the stars and goes well beyond in the end. Unreqvited more than lives up to its reputation here with nothing seeming to be impossible for the band after all that’s been done here.

“Pathway to the Moon” releases on February 7th via Prophecy Productions!

LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Pathway to the Moon” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Unreqvited on Facebook here.