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Back in 2018, Warwickshire post-sludge quartet Conjurer seemed to appear fully formed from nowhere, armed with one of the finest debut metal albums of the decade, the staggering Mire.
Immediately, they became one of the country’s most talked-about new bands. However, its 2022 follow-up, Páthos, struggled to match the intensity, songcraft and overall excitement that Mire delivered. Seven years after they burst onto a scene so keen on finding the shiny new thing, there’s a very real sense that much is riding on the third Conjurer album.
Thankfully, it’s no exaggeration to call Unself a glorious return to form. This is a record with a clear sense of musical evolution, but the wild, untamed urgency that made Mire so breathless, and that Pathos seemed to lack, is back in spades.
The title track opens not with a bang, but with an almost acoustic-country feel, before Conjurer’s scabrously heavy riffs detonate at the song’s end. It’s a surprising and impressive a way to start, and it sets a bar Conjurer mostly match for the rest of the album.
The Alice In Chains-style grunge guitars of A Plea come straight after the bleak, punishing, tar-thick doom of The Searing Glow, and it’s in these moments of light and shade you realise you’re hearing the most dynamically broad and challenging material of Conjurer’s career.
Much of the record is inspired by guitarist and vocalist Dani Nightingale’s diagnosis of autism and coming out as non-binary, leading to music that vividly explores feelings of confusion, anger, self-worth, pride and more. Due to this, Unself is an album drenched in catharsis and defiance, making it also the most personal and most moving set of songs Conjurer have put their name to. They’re back to their best.
Unself is out this Friday, October 24, via Nuclear Blast