Band:	Unseelie
Album:	Urban Fantasy
Style:	Gothic metal
Release date:	December 01, 2014
A review by:	Jason W.

01. Strangers
02. Quantify Your Soul
03. The City Feeds On You
04. Frontier
05. Hunters' Game
06. The White Passenger
07. Of Water And Dreams
08. Prometheus' Pain
09. Beauty Is Our Only Saviour
10. Closer To Apotheosis [bonus]

What has humanity forsaken in our current path and quest for rational knowledge? Unseelie has crafted a debut that is tribute to the intangible energies, the elegance of forgotten poets in a world that values logic, and the neglected souls that have decayed as modern life has swept them away. With dramatic arrangements wrapped in gothic atmospheres, absorbing yet accessible guitar lines, and vocals that are as opaquely mesmerizing as the solemn face of someone beautiful floating in water, Urban Fantasy not only mourns our progress, it reminds us that so many of the answers humans seek may have always been there, between the unseen cracks of light and darkness.

Above a growing pulse of electronic atmospherics, subdued bass notes, vocalist/lyricist Anne-Emmanuelle Fournier announces the album's purpose with forlorn whispered lines, and echoes the Martin Heidegger quote gracing the inside album cover:



Her voice is a watery mixture of confusion, understanding, and discovery, and, as the main chorus finishes with the words "We don't belong / Anywhere," she trails off like a fading reflection of a group of faces somehow trapped in stasis upon the side of an icy skyscraper.

While Urban Fantasy is quite heavy on keyboards and modern guitar sounds, in "The City Feeds On You" I found the addition of simple folk melodies beneath them a nice touch, expressing the lingering connection a being trapped in the urban landscape feels with a more distant past. As the three minute mark approaches, the soft melody switches instantly to a more powerful keyboard version, embodying the song's protagonist's inner chaos as it attempts to escape. This is a technique frequently employed by Marc Chevallereau, who is responsible for all instruments, as he layers different instruments at turning points in the plots of each song. Perhaps my favorite version of this occurs in the more uptempo "Hunters' Game," as the percussion sets up an energetic gothic-tinged synth solo, then reverts to a more straightforward guitar version, and slows to softer chords. It's as if the song's subject runs in chaotic inner turmoil, gains some level of acceptance, and then slows breathlessly as fear slips away as the purifying hand of death approaches.

Though not really a ballad, "Of Water And Dreams" is easily the most delicate tracks of the album. Replete with a backdrop of misty sampling, soft chords, and Anne-Emmanuelle's centering warmth as she pleads "Embrace me," this song not only gives Marc a chance to offer a contemplative guitar riff, but is a well-timed lead up to the following track. "Prometheus' Pain" shows off the album's production with one thing I have always loved about music, that of the dramatic pause as a rush of instrumentation begins. Powerful with atmosphere and Marc's catchiest riff, it's only matched by the equally addictive chorus. Using a style of melody that also appears on an earlier track, "Quantify Your Soul," but feels so much stronger here, Anne-Emmanuelle's vocals in the chorus feel like a spiraling rush of fire that moves uncontrollably upward, is too heavy to slow down, and will only cease if it can transcend time and reconnect with the ancient gods that once gave it to us.

While Anne-Emmanuelle's style demands perhaps a listener who appreciates a peculiar style, I find that this is inherently part of her appeal as a vocalist, particularly in the context of this album. With subject matters that focus on being caught in a transient form, place, and emotional state, all while being ignored by the masses of functional humans, her voice is ideally imperfect at times, yet with numerous brushes of swirling splendor. She reflects the barely visible, the uncertain, or starving souls, who may be the last hopes "Still holding on / To some old-fashioned beliefs" within a logic-driven society. The music demands someone who creates an obscure and uneasy mystique, and, in this, she succeeds.

Like looking through a murky glass wall at what could have been, but only to turn around and feel lost in the sea of rapidly paced city life and technology, Unseelie's Urban Fantasy reminds us that in all our struggles for greater understanding, so much of our answers could right beside us, if only we would dare to wonder and thus see, the light behind the walls we have symbolically erected. For a self-released debut, Urban Fantasy is easily one of the most interesting sounding atmospheres and gothic releases of the past year.