ALBUM REVIEW: Unself – Conjurer

In 2018, a four piece from Rugby brought out a debut album so drenched in sludge, brutality and misery that they went from a band whose biggest achievement was playing Bloodstock after winning Coventry’s Metal 2 the Masses two years prior, to one of the hottest, breakthrough acts in British metal. Since then, CONJURER have gone from strength to strength; their live shows leave venues as piles of rubble and Curse These Metal Hands – their project alongside PIJN – has become a fan favourite. With a rise in status comes greater expectation, however, and 2022’s sophomore album Páthos didn’t quite hit the heights people were anticipating given their growing reputation. Three years down the line and one could say there’s quite a lot riding on third album Unself.

CONJURER, however, have not just grown bigger as a band – they have as people as well. Unself is built on the foundations of a band looking inwardly at themselves, channelling their discoveries into their craft and then reflecting them back out. But for vocalist and guitarist Dani Nightingale, there’s a greater personal story here – following an autism diagnosis, they found they had to rebuild their own identity and standings, a process that also led to the realisation they were non-binary; for them, this is a story of fighting to rediscover and redefine themselves.

All of which makes it appropriate that the title track opens with sombre, acoustic guitars and Dani‘s fragile, clean vocals instead of tearing into a huge riff or three; this CONJURER is a different beast than the one we knew before, one more open to the idea of letting others into their world on a deeper level. Naturally though, it’s not long before ‘normal service’ is resumed – to be precise, a minute and twenty, as that’s when an unsettling guitar tone increases in volume, drowns out the gentler movement and then explodes into riffs and anguished screams.

All Apart‘s crushing overtones are complimented well by Nightingale‘s vocal harmonies with fellow member Brady Deeprose and the former’s vulnerable wails in the second half, while The Searing Glow begins fast, slows to a menacing, bass-led crawl (huge credit to Conor Marshall for making so few notes so foreboding) and then encapsulates the internet meme of ‘when the riff comes back, but slower’ to perfection.

Let Us Live harks back to the sludgier tones that were on aforementioned debut Mire, again contrasted by clean, whispered movements. Underneath it all, however, you can feel a cry to the world from those who are abused, persecuted and oppressed just for being themselves; the title absolutely nails the brief. Hang Them In Your Head is filled with venom and anger, a bitter behemoth that rages and rants and is bolstered by the exemplary production skills of both the band and Joe Clayton. And then, just when things couldn’t get any better, the album comes full circle with closing track The World Is Not My Home. Originally a gospel song written a century ago called I Can’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore, it has been reimagined and bookends the album, but while Unself was melancholic and brittle, this is defiant and upstanding, the guitars ringing out in a post-metal way that CONJURER have always been so good at; it’s nothing short of an excellent and sumptuous coda.

It transpires, therefore, that Páthos was merely a slight misstep. CONJURER have roared back to their very best with Unself, a record that makes no apologies for its unabashed and unrelenting persona. It’s so deeply personal that it’s guaranteed to connect with listeners on a multitude of levels, and that’ll ensure they come back for repeated listens – it’s sensational, moving stuff.

Rating: 9/10

Unself is out now via Nuclear Blast Records. 

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