“I believe it’s time to change the colours on the canvas.”
Germany’s Unprocessed have undergone quite the transformation over the past few years. While they’ve always been a technically-minded band with a hint of swagger, I felt the balance of the two shifted polarity over the past few years. No more are the four-piece simply a vessel of choppy prog-metal riffs with sprinkled in pop melodies and innate sense of groove, but instead a prog-pop band with a tech-metal mindset. To use a cheap comparison if you’re unfamiliar – think Polyphia, but with vocals. Of course, the choppy, hyper-melodic guitar style found isn’t exclusive to Tim Henson, but he’s certainly the anchor point from which most people will draw their associations from in this style.
I will say, though, however cool I found the sound change in theory as a huge fan of pop sensibilities in heavier music, I did miss some of the extra grit found in the band’s previous work, particularly in 2019’s Artificial Void. I feel the concoction was perfected between the styles with 2020’s stellar “Deadrose”, but a few the following singles failed to spark the same level of excitement. Be that through a lack of overt technicality (“Candyland”), or failing to achieve that big moment (“Rain”), some of these tracks were instead left feeling like a collection of prog-adjacent pop songs that didn’t quite reach the mark as either prog or pop enough to justify being the core style of the project to come.
That may sound like an outright condemnation of much of this new material, but I genuinely still enjoy many of these songs. Part of me was just hoping that whatever they had coming next provided enough juxtaposition and contrast within its tracklist to justify the, at times outright, abandonment of the ‘metal’ end of their sound, though. Thankfully, with Gold, Unprocessed have quelled many of my fears, striking the much-needed balance in sound that I was vying for after feeling a tad shaky on the lead-up.
That’s not to say that Gold isn’t more overtly a pop album than a metal record – it almost certainly is, but there are enough moments of that classic Unprocessed grit within many of these tracks that it harkens back to the old enough to keep the prog-metal side of me satiated, while wholly exploring the new in their newfound pop stylings, and developing them further where necessary. A great example of the power in extremes found on Gold is within tracks two and three – “Redwine” and “The Longing”.
While the former feels like a prog rock take on a Billie Eilish track, with low-key percussion and a silky-smooth chorus to boot, the latter feels more like classic, dirty Unprocessed. Chunky guitars, and even a breakdown alongside some screamed vocals return to the fold here. Albeit very briefly, “The Longing” provides a direct juxtaposition that sets up the spread of Gold’s sounds masterfully from the jump, even if it never quite reaches that level of brazen heaviness again.
Of course, “The Longing” isn’t Gold’s only heavy moment, though, with following track “Orange Grove” featuring a gargantuan instrumental breakdown toward its tail end. Further, later cut “Berlin”, alongside standout single “Portrait” both bring some serious punch in their instrumental sections. These moments, however sweet they may be in their fleeting nature, aren’t the album’s focus, though. Where Gold seems to place its focus, rightfully, is in the incredibly intricate, melodious and subtly technical riffwork of modern-day prodigy Manuel Gardner Fernandes.
Fernandes’ percussive and soaring guitar work, paired with his gorgeous vocal tone make for an absolutely mesmerizing soundscape across much of the record. His vocal performance particularly stands out on tracks like the aforementioned “Redwine”, alongside stellar deep cuts “Mint” and “The Game”. While a few of the tracks the band have released over the past few in the lead up didn’t quite captivate my attention as much as I’d hoped, many cuts across Gold showcase Unprocessed at their strongest to date, leaning into and developing their pop sensibilities in a way that truly works for the band’s sound.
However, it’s not all positive, as the album does have some noticeable blemishes. On a track-to-track level, while I enjoy the general aesthetic makeup of mid-album cut “Closer”, the awkward verbiage and structure used within the track’s lyricism make it hard to take at all seriously. While you could chalk it up to English not likely being Fernandes’ first language, it’s a stark standout from almost any song the band have made in the past. The track explores Fernandes seemingly posturing as a ‘high school bully’ type, intimidating other characters, all the while providing all the subtlety expected of those high school bullies. Perhaps it’s a genius commentary on the numbskulledness of school bullies, or maybe it’s just an awkward misfire.
Further, the album being comprised of just shy of an hour of music makes it quite an obtuse listen, even if much of the content here is genuinely enjoyable. In addition, many of the songs here have already been released, either as singles or as part of the Boy Without A Gun EP that dropped just a short couple of months ago. I’m not sure quite what the intention was with this rollout structure, but having those songs scattered around Gold made me wonder why both releases needed to exist as they were. Even without these tracks, the album would’ve been a more than respectable ten tracks, and would’ve made the rollout all the more exciting. But, as it is, it just makes Gold feel bloated by older content, even if the tracks released previously were likely written and recorded in tandem with the rest of the record.
All in all, Gold is a valiant step forward for the sound of Unprocessed. While some may decry their movement away from being an overtly tech-metal oriented band, in favour of a tech-minded prog-pop group, I believe the change is a net positive. The German outfit have crafted some of their most insanely catchy and intricate music to date, and while it may don a different aesthetic to their material previous, there’s still just as much mind-boggling guitar wankery here to drop your jaw at. There are some major issues here in the album’s structure and release strategy, but as a whole, Gold is still an incredibly impressive feat of musicianship that deserves to be heard and digested.
8/10
Gold will be available this Friday, August 12th via Spinefarm, and you can pre-order the album here.