Unfurl is an introspective amalgamation of innumerable emotions siphoned through a gaping void. Be it the time-warping shimmers of sepia-filtered ambient that flicker like a dim tavern light or the intoxicating blend and bending of genres, Unfurl’s second LP, The Waking Void, writhes in an echelon perched well above the ocean of 2019’s extreme metal releases. Though it is not known when Unfurl formed, the Pittsburgh outfit (then a trio) dropped their debut album, Deathbed, back in April of 2016. From a production standpoint, Deathbed sounds rawer than its follow-up. It also harbored heavier leanings in post-hardcore territory. However, some of the ideas contained within its runtime, specifically the emotive and contemplative expanses, return, albeit with a more fully realized fervor on The Waking Void.

Now a quartet, Unfurl has undergone a tonal metamorphosis and has metastasized into a pestilent brute of aural decimation. Grinding death metal, scathing black metal, gnashing thrums of hardcore, evocative auras that quiver with a shoegaze luster; every element comprising the The Waking Void‘s fabric invigorates. What’s most adroit is the album’s pacing and its uncanny atmosphere. So seamlessly does Unfurl barrel from one riff to the next, maintaining a seismic intensity that thunders with the vocalist’s surprising palette of divergent deliveries. And behind the familiar instruments of guitar, bass, and drums, there percolates a keen sense of ethereal dereliction that calls to mind decrepit landscapes only explored in the dreariest of dreams. There is much more to be said about The Waking Void in this episode and we sincerely hope you enjoy our dissection of it. Thank you for tuning in.