UNPROCESSED

In the 20 years that have passed since PERIPHERY and TESSERACT began releasing music, those bands' distinctive formulae have been plundered, deconstructed and enthusiastically messed with by a huge number of bands from both sides of the Atlantic. Whether or not anyone is still clinging on to the idea of "djent" as an enduring movement is open to debate, but the influence of this futuristic take on progressive metal has been huge and undeniable.

Active since 2013, UNPROCESSED have always seemed like one of the bands most likely to push this nebulous style forward, and it is gratifying to note that the Germans have been steadily gaining momentum at a time when their chosen genre is no longer flavor of the month/year. Their sixth album certainly sounds like the kind of record that the post-djent generation need to be making in these polarized times: if nothing else, "Angel" is a bold and brave piece of work, with artful complexity and commercial melodies both positioned at the heart of things.

But if there is a problem with "Angel", it is that UNPROCESSED occasionally seem slightly confused about the kind of band they have become over the last 12 years. At first, they embark on an intense forward drive that will delight fans of djent's harder-edged exponents. "111" has a big, shiny vocal melody within its knotty structure, but it comes between punishing blasts of syncopated riffing and heavyweight groove, not to mention thick swathes of surreal, hazy atmosphere. It effectively collapses into the next track, "Sleeping With Ghosts", which adheres to a similar maze of obstinately discordant guitars and virtuoso extremity, with frontman Manuel Fernandes switching between angelic crooning and desperate screams, like a man with divine cryptids lurking on each shoulder. There are hooks here, albeit somewhat buried beneath a surging mound of interlocked riffs and flagrant aggression and a widescreen wistfulness that seeps through the madness with slick aplomb. In this mood, UNPROCESSED are undeniably impressive and genuinely startling. But when the next song takes the scenic route into more overtly palatable territory, that same contrast between grit and smoothness becomes confused. "Beyond Heaven's Gate" boasts some fantastic riffs, multiple layers of disorientating ambience, and huge amounts of out-and-out metal power, but it also comes across as a slightly contrived attempt to crowbar pop sensibilities into a structure that might have been better served without such things. Similarly, "Sacrifice Me" barrels along on a suitably intricate bedrock of blustery chords, but Fernades's clean vocals are a little too pristine and genteel to contend with such a brutal backdrop. Maybe the SLEEP TOKEN effect is more powerful than recalcitrant old timers are prepared to admit, because UNPROCESSED seem to be hedging their bets here, in love with the idea of "stadium djent" (is that a thing?) but clinging to the tenets of a more cerebral, scattershot approach. "Snowlover" is full of guitar work that threatens, but its melodies are rooted in metalcore's sensitive side, which undermines the monstrous work being executed in the background.

Fortunately, UNPROCESSED are not band prone to indulgence. Most of these songs are between three and four minutes in length, and if one idea doesn't appeal to you, the next one probably will. "Terrestrial" is a case in point: a fiery explosion of unapologetic heaviness and surging, prog-adjacent intricacy, it hangs around for just long enough to administer a concussion or two. Likewise, "Solara", which features a predictably manic vocal from PALEFACE SWISS frontman Zelli, is genuinely thrilling, its stuttering breakbeats and esoteric arrangement providing small acts of moderate subversion that suit the vocal crossover perfectly. In contrast, FEVER 333 frontman Jason Butler's rapping on "Head In The Clouds" feels slightly incongruous and adds little to an otherwise powerful song with some pleasingly grandiose riffs. The closing "Dark, Silent and Complete" is much better, as Fernandes's caustic roar surfs across an unusually dense and convoluted collage of riffs, tempos and bowel-shredding bottom end, all of which abruptly recedes to reveal a brilliantly effective, melodic detour, with synthesized strings, electronic static and an avalanche of melodic elegance that persists as the song reaches its bombastic crescendo.

In truth, and depending on your preference, "Angel" is a very modern metal record that achieves its aims and makes an impressive amount of classy, polished noise in the process. Its finest moments suggest that the descendants of djent's first wave are still finding new ways to push the whole movement forward, but on occasion, UNPROCESSED are trying too hard to have their prog metal cake and eat it too.