Remember, it’s Unreqvited, not Unrequited, and it’s not a band, but one mysterious artist. With “Mosaic II,“ intended not just as a follow-up, but also a sequel to “Mosaic,” he’s unearthed a fascinating little landmark to the frontiers of Blackgaze. The album is 7 tracks of instrumentals - - sure there are vocals in a number of the songs, but we’ll get to that; there’s nary a single lyric on the whole album.
Each track is a densely layered, textured exploration of threads woven about a simplistic core. Most of the songs’ root notes pendulum back and forth with deliberate pace between two disparate chords. This is fine, but it’s the stuff over the top that makes Unreqvited interesting, contemplative, thought-provoking, scoring your meditation, your high, your deep thoughts - - or whatever sick little things you do with your little free time. .

Those vocals we talked about. . . they’re typically buried in the mix, but from one song to the next, he emits tortured wails. That - - or the recording studio is next to a dungeon; I don’t judge. They effectively convey the theme, but I wish there’d been a bit more variation on what the voice is doing; the tuneless, wordless screams are pretty much the same every time they appear.
The final three tracks are a connected mini-trilogy of ambience, reminiscent of “Corrosion” and “Grace” from Ministry’s magnum “Psalm 69.” These are fine as what they are, but I’m more interested in going back through “Wasteland” and “Disorder” and the other two tracks from the albums first half. If you liked 412’s “Path to Hocma” and the music of Alcest, then I think you’ll dig “Mosaic II.”