The Daily Spin, August 21
Hozier | Unreal Unearth
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: Unreal Unearth (2023)
Artist: Hozier
Link:
One thing I’ve learned with time is that it’s hard for lightning to strike the same place twice - and it’s even more of a rarity for it to hit a third time. With Unreal Unearth, it does feel a bit as though Andrew Byrne has lost a bit of that shine that carried him to international stardom through his first two albums - struck magic with Hozier, carried it close with Wasteland, Baby!, and is now left chasing that high with this album.
That’s not to say this is bad - Hozier is unique among artists in that his floor is very arguably higher than many artists’ ceilings, but I do feel like this album has left me, if anything, a little confused. It feels less cohesive and unified than his previous projects, in a way that reads like he had ideas to string it all together that just didn’t pan through as completely as intended.
I do appreciate his willingness to oscillate around so many styles - even within the ‘De Selby’ duo, the first is this haunting Irish choral tune, while the second slides straight into an Allan Rayman-like guitar tune, heavy and sawing. ‘Son of Nyx’ is deeply ethereal, the old ‘forest daddy’ moniker come home to roost, while much of the back half of the album is classically Hozier, alternative indie near its very best.
He hasn’t missed before, and he doesn’t start now - even though it might not be his best, I’m still astounded at the consistency displayed over nearly 50 tracks and three albums.
Rating: 9.0/10
Best Tracks: De Selby (Part 2), Francesca, Anything But
Worst Tracks: Damage Gets Done