The Unravelling - Tear a Hole in the Collective Vision

The Unravelling’s other permanent member, producer and instrumentalist Gustavo DeBeauville saved material for Moore's special brand of intense vocals and lyrical point-making, and the duo were thus able to release material fairly quickly. “Master Drone” released just last month, and with “Revolt” it turned out to be singles on The Unravelling’s prodigal sophomore album, Tear a Hole in the Collective Vision. This new album released on August 7 and is seeing the duo pick up right where they left off. With Moore’s striking lyrics and DeBeauville’s unique music and flawless production, The Unravelling are poised to become the industrial/metal hybrid juggernaut they began to cultivate in 2010 and 2011.

"Revolt” was a surprising choice for a first release from The Unravelling, as it leaned much more industrial than anything on 13 Arcane Hymns. It may have been released as a sort of shock treatment, however, for fans who’d expected exact replicas of the work on the band’s first album. It would also serve as a better watchword for the rest Tear a Hole in the Collective Vision than the decidedly more metal second single, “Master Drone.” Though 13 Arcane Hymns earned rave reviews from Metalsucks.com, Metal Insider and Metaldrone.com, an award for Best Album Production at the 2010 Alberta Metal Awards and topped the CSJW Metal Charts, DeBeauville has decided to shirk his original format, it seems. This doesn’t mean he’s thrown the baby out with the bloody bathwater, however, as there’s lots of characteristically dark and brooding DeBeauville material.

“Master Drone” is the metal exception to the industrial rule on Tear a Hole in the Collective Vision. The reason for the more industrial-leaning majority of songs on this album seems to be the programmed electronic drums, which don’t feature as heavily on 13 Arcane Hymns. It sounds like on the first album the group had some live drums to create that metal feel. I’m not sure it was a conscious decision on DeBeauville’s part to use this technique on this album but it helps to establish a trademark sound for him with drum programming in addiction to his well-known guitars and synths.

Aside from “Master Drone,” The title track seems to be the only other song that isn’t fast and industrial-tinged. This track is probably the most interesting on the album as well. “Tear a Hole in the Collective Vision” is, if anything, dark wave-inspired but its structure is so avant-garde that it could be called experimental dark wave metal, if that’s a thing. With a slow, quiet beginning, it builds to a militaristic and sort of metal drum and guitar pairing at the middle. Musically, the song has a kind of epic battle song feel, which fits well with Moore’s lyrics. More powerfully than ever, Moore’s lyrics in this piece mark a central theme to all of his work: the tossing off of conventional thinking to create one’s own path, even if it means violence is necessary. DeBeauville’s sparse music production allows Moore to really drive home this point, and the effect is chilling.

The title track and “Master Drone,” aren’t the only highlights on the album. The opener “The Hydra’s Heart” has a really cool synthesized string track paired with the guitars which make the song at once industrial and classical. It also has some of Moore’s most interesting lyrical work. “Out of the Depths” is decidedly on the industrial side of the spectrum, with a vintage synth melody which may remind fans of The Cure. Paired with Moore’s Maynard-like vocals and very NIN drum track, it’s a modern twist on the 90s pioneers of this style of music. Closing track “We Have No Problems” sees DeBeauville’s metal guitars re-introduced to the album with a drum track which vacillates back and forth between industrial and metal in a way that only The Unravelling can pull off.

There is so much going on in Tear a Hole in the Collective Vision that it’s difficult to sum up. There are a lot of sub-genres and styles covered, and it’s clear that DeBeauville is happy to have Moore back to match his style in both quality and quantity. The Unravelling hoepfully have lots of material yet to come and both Moore and DeBeauville are eager to make up for lost time. It’s obvious that these two are just happy to be back together and making some of the most interesting underground music to come out of Canada in recent years. They’re so happy to be back together, in fact, that Tear a Hole in the Collective Vision and all of The Unravelling’s work is available for free download on their Bandcamp page. What more reason do you need?