Unreqvited lives in the stars.
After three busy years, Canadian musician William “Ghost” Melsness (The Ember, the Ash, H V N W R D ., Ilúvatia…) continues his journey with Prophecy Productions for the release of his seventh album, A Pathway to the Moon.
The album features two special guests: Benjamin V. Cooligan for some guitar solos, and Jamie Turton for orchestrations.
We’re greeted with Overture I: Disintegrate, an introduction where keyboards and clear vocals slowly dance together before darkening and suddenly leading into The Antimatter, where saturation orchestrations and visceral screams plunge us with them into darkness. The jerky riffs and piercing leads occasionally give way to an unexpected gentleness and a few soothing choruses, but this moment is again corrupted by the aggressive sounds that first tolerate their existence, then make them disappear completely to let the man guide us through his heavy riffs. We lose ourselves in one last soaring cloud, then the harmonics hit us again until The Starforger takes over, first with very calm melodies, then with a certain darkness that blends with the steamy influences to create a relatively accessible and coherent mix. After a moment’s pause, the march resumes towards Void Essence / Frozen Tears, which immediately captivates our minds with its dissonance, and keeps them there with the arrival of haunting saturation, and the vocal effluvia, either airy or visceral, that populates the composition. Into the Starlit Beyond, another ethereal creation that favors a clear sound but is just as gripping as the others, builds almost imperceptibly before bursting into flames and finally giving way to Celestial Sleep, a short, restful track. Guitars and keyboards surrender to melancholy, letting us catch our breath before Departure: Everlasting Dream comes into view, slowly building to a heart-rending blend of influences as raw as they are crafted, resulting in a truly timeless moment.
Like everything else he touches, Unreqvited‘s creator turns it into a dreamlike, incredibly transcendent creation. Mixing aggression and gentleness is nothing new, but A Pathway to the Moon will be remembered as a true treasure.
95/100