Expanding their futuristically tinged sonic palette with both heavier prog riffs and poppier elements, German metal rogues UNPROCESSED are back with a new album, “Angel,” released independently upon Halloween, October 31st, 2025. Their previous full-length “…And Everything in Between,” released in 2023, received widespread acclaim for its haunting mixture of high-octane fretboard gymnastics, djenty riff origamis, and highly emotive lyrics which reflected upon the dark chaos within us. So, with those songs still relatively fresh in memory, I was quite stoked to see what new sonic layers this new offering would unfold. While this latest installment in the band’s robust catalog is not necessarily a concept album per se, the songs do explore the concept of angels in various ways, which in and of itself is a rather peculiar move, considering the time of the album’s release; one might think Halloween would have inspired a somewhat more darkly shaded concept to dig into. The band itself boasts that the album features some of their craziest stuff while not losing its accessible edge, and after a few spins, I must hand it to them: this Devil’s dozen of new songs indeed showcases some of the band’s strongest and catchiest material to date. In the past 2 years, these Germans have supported some major-league acts, ranging from IN FLAMES, TESSERACT, AUGUST BURNS RED, SPIRITBOX, and POLYPHIA, and it has certainly done some good for them when it comes to a tad more consolidated songwriting. Hence, if the band has been something of a metalcore underdog up to this point, things are about to change with this show of strength.
Led by luminous guitarist and vocalist Manuel Gardner Fernandes, the band’s signature sound is very guitar-heavy as you would expect, but on their sixth studio album, UNPROCESSED has somewhat come to terms with the idea of inserting deftly honed pop hooks into the technically immaculate guitar tapestries. This new approach is implemented right off the bat in the opener, “111,” which alternates between ultra-violent riffages in the verses and atmospheric, pop-tinged choruses, prompting you into contemplation whether this is what the mixture of Justin Bieber and ERRA would sound like. Yeah, this is something that metal Puritans might strongly disagree with, but it is exactly this delicate balance between the djenty metalcore heaviness and the light-as-a-feather pop aesthetics that grabs your attention most pleasantly. I’ve always regarded BRING ME THE HORIZON‘s 2015 album “That’s the Spirit” as the absolute crown achievement when it comes to mixing delicious pop aesthetics and metalcore. Still, now it seems that this German bunch is getting awfully close – the thing is, it only gets better the deeper you plunge into the new album.
The first track to prompt me into thinking like this is “Beyond Heaven’s Gate.” It is nothing less than a perfect marriage of metal and pop. Period. The synth motif wailing in the background triggers even flashbacks of ARCADE FIRE‘s haunting banger from yesteryear – “No Cars Go,” from 2007. The chorus gets under your skin in a similar, goosebumpey manner. The song is only the third overall, so I guess it is a good omen for the album that it delivers such a heart-wrenching gut-punch so early on in the selection, because, judging by the quality so far, this beast is very likely to punch me even harder yet, right?
Well, yeah. Next up, “Sacrifice Me” traverses a sonic trajectory somewhere between BMTH at its softest and SLEEP TOKEN at its djentiest. On the one hand, a song like this is sure to rub the old-school metalheads the wrong way, but on the other hand, musical perverts like me, who sport an affinity toward mixing everything in the same sonic bowl, will have no trouble liking the shit out of this banger. Besides, it’s no mere matter of opinion, but a cold, hard fact, that the marriage of pop vocals and djenty guitar riffs is the very best thing since the invention of sliced bread. (If you don’t believe me, type “Bleed-a-razzi” in the video search box on YouTube…) Plus, when the modus operandi is such piercing melancholy pop, as in the song “Snowlover,” what is there NOT to like?
It may be a rather risky move to put two melancholy pop bangers in a row, don’t you think? The band seems to have acknowledged the dangers and, thus, the following track kicks you right in the privates without a warning. “Terrestrial” is a high-octane punch-up that sounds almost industrial, in the vein of vintage MINISTRY, here and there. The vocoder-laden synthwave-cum-djent of “Your Dress” mellows things down a notch, but just a little. At this point, I couldn’t help but realize how much I really love Fernandes‘s clean guitar tone! Even though it’s often drenched in reverb and delay, it sounds just perfect for this type of music. His use of the volume pedal in the intro of “Where I Left My Soul” is also something worth mentioning, in addition to the song’s overall guitarwork – expressive in both phrasing and tone – and I’m not even particularly guitar-oriented when it comes to listening to music! I just have to appreciate good musicianship when I encounter such, and along with this song, “Perfume” also packs such an ungodly amount of good musicianship that these two bangers immediately became my favorite tracks on the album. The latter features a guitar tone to die for.
Next, “Solara” steps outside the band’s comfort zone and features not only nicely chopped breakbeats but also some harsh rap vocals, courtesy of Zelli from PALEFACE SWISS. Maybe I’m getting older and softer, but I find the mixture of rap vocals and metal rather nice. Then, “Heads in the Clouds” features another guest – this time it is Jason Aalon Butler from FEVER 333. The song features even more rap-style vocals before things take on a more djent-inflicted tangent. The absolute bounciest riffs and catchiest choruses on the album are found in this sublime riffer.
In my review of the band’s previous album, I wondered why they liked to call their music “futuristic thrash metal,” when the best I could do was to hear all the fifty shades of djent. Here, closing the album, “Dark, Silent and Complete” rolls out some beefy riffs that could perhaps fit the bill – until the song’s middle section plunges headfirst into ambient synthwave, only to return to those neon-glossed futuro-riffs. For once, I do not need to complain about the choice of a closer on a contemporary metal offering – this song slaps exactly as you would expect from an album closer. So, all things considered, I’m not sure whether I would yet call this album a perfect ten – over time, it might as well grow into one – but, at least, it’s fair to say it is a perfect mixture of cherubic pop and djenty metalcore. “Angel” is a strong statement of precise musicianship and genre-fluid songwriting, one that demands to be put on repeat, which I reckon is a damn good omen.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- 111
- Sleeping With Ghosts
- Beyond Heaven’s Gate
- Sacrifice Me
- Snowlover
- Terrestrial
- Your Dress
- Where I Left My Soul
- Solara (feat. Zelli from PALEFACE SWISS)
- First Tongue
- Perfume
- Head in the Clouds (feat. Jason Aalon Butler from FEVER 333)
- Dark, Silent and Complete
Lineup
Manuel Gardner Fernandes – vocals, guitars
Christoph Schultz – guitars
David John Levy – bass, keyboards
Leon Pfeifer – drums
Label
Independent
