A stunning and emotionally raw record that leaves you gobsmacked and yearning for repeat listens, Conjurer deliver throughout with Unself.
Release date: October 24, 2025 | Nuclear Blast Records | Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook
Post-metal is a genre that unashamedly lays bare emotion. Known for bleak riffs, roaring vocals and harrowing lyrical themes, I revel in bands who can bring actual contrast to the genre. Conjurer are exceptionally good at exactly this, with two-and-a-half excellent records to prove their acumen, and a fourth ready to unleash upon the metal masses. Mire introduced us to their nasty post-sludge sound, with dual vocals leading a charge of violent metal, whilst Pathos developed it further by accentuating the sudden, cataclysmic riffs that followed gentler, sanctuary moments in the metal. The EP Curse These Metal Hands, that was released back in 2019, a collaboration with fellow post worshippers Pijn, is widely lauded in my circles as one of the best mental health in metal records… ever.
Conjurer excel because their music doesn’t sound like traditional post, à la Neurosis or Amenra, nor the filthiest of sludge. It infuses Baroness-esque major chords with post-sludge, innovative dual vocals, and immense contrasts between sadness and fury that tell stories and convey themes in a way many aspire to.
The album opener is one of the strongest and easily the most emotional I’ve heard in years. “Unself” opens with singer Dani Nightingale’s beautiful acoustic rendition of a gospel hymn “I Can’t Feel at Home Any More”. The lyrics, given the current zeitgeist, feel particularly potent. When you understand the lyrical themes the band are presenting in the record, even more so. As the squeal of amplifiers begins to drown out the acoustic halfway through, the sudden, ominous rush of Conjurer‘s chaotic metal plays with your emotions brilliantly. Dani and vocal partner Brady wail and screech amid huge riffing and massive feedback, really setting the tone well for the rest of the album.
Something that immediately stood out for me as “All Apart” really gets going is that the complete sound that I fell in love with in their debut Mire was really back. I felt in Pathos that the mix was too traditional metal-sounding and stole a lot of the emotion from the music. Granted, the record was a victim of the pandemic, so I don’t blame at all, given guitar samples were being passed remotely to one another, and they’ve openly admitted they’ll never make a record like it again. What made Mire really special is the raw, depressed, and desperate English sound. Well-produced instruments and vocals, but not overwhelmingly rich and rounded, were what made raw and heavy songs like “Choke”, “Hollow”, and “Retch” really stand out, and their contrasting moments shine. Unself has that, but also shows a band who have truly grown into their sound, whilst keeping that standout sound.
“All Apart” is a real journey of a track, lurching from gigantic riffs with brilliant vocals into a section that sounds almost like the band are scoring a crossover between Twin Peaks and Dead Mans Shoes. Finally ending with a gargantuan blackened climax, you’re pumped and ready for more of this divine intersection of post and sludge that Conjurer are offering.
Vocals on this record are absolutely immense and you have to marvel at both singers’ techniques. Brady’s goblin vocals have elevated to god tier, whilst Dani’s roars and cleans are truly something to behold. The power and emotion you feel from both is really something. Yet that is just part of the picture: I really like how Conjurer wrote their songs for Unself too. They feel like sprints and not circuits, yet somehow almost always do reprise motifs. In “The Searing Glow”, the vocalists steal the show in the first half, bouncing off each other on top of a massive set of riffs. They contrast this with a spectacular crunchy bass groove that sees the vocals almost completely stripped back. Right at the very end of a climactic escalation, they pull back that monster riff from the beginning for one final furore, and even on the tenth listen, it feels like a jigsaw piece fitting into place. Simply awesome.
Conjurer wanted to really lay out their feelings on a number of themes in this record, and I think “A Plea” followed by “Let Us Live” is one of the most powerful thematically and emotionally I’ve heard all year. “A Plea” is an interlude of sorts, a gorgeous yet forlorn acoustic and soft percussion-driven track, overlaid with Carla Antonelli‘s historic speech as the first transgender senator of the Spanish parliament. It sets the scene brilliantly for “Let Us Live”, which features epic post-metal riffs contrasted by desperate sludgy vocals. You can feel the band’s exasperation and desire to get their point across through the track, as they tear through verses and riffs with fury. ‘This fear, you’ll never know/This life, you’ll never lead/This love, you’ll never feel/This death, you’ll never see’ is one of the most moving verses the band have written, with the climactic repetition of ‘Let us live’ perfectly encapsulating the struggle of just wanting to exist free of persecution.
The album is cohesive as a long-play, closing out on a real earworm that I struggle to shake for days after listening. “This World Is Not My Home” is an exceptional reprise to the opener “Unself”. However, compared to the opener, it feels different, like they’ve gotten a lot of emotion and messages off their chest and are now really hammering home the original theme from the hymn. Filled with lofty, posty riffs and cataclysmic drums, you feel like you are saying goodbye to the album properly with this track. Live, this will be an absolutely insane closer to their set. Unself is an incredible album. Conjurer should be proud of what they’ve accomplished here and, whilst I love them haunting the underground of European and US metal, I also hope this stunning record propels them into the bigger leagues of metal, where they and their incredible sound belong.
