UNPROCESSED "Angel" Album Review and Exclusive Interview

Unprocessed release "Angel" on October 31st, 2025. The German act continues to refine their progressively heavy sound with powerful atmospheres.

by The Metalverse

Updated October 30, 2025

Our Rating:

9.5

On October 31st, 2025, German progressive act Unprocessed released their 6th studio album, Angel. Featuring guest appearances from members of Paleface Swiss, Letlive, and Fever 333, Angel follows the band's widely acclaimed 2023 album ...And Everything In Between.

The band comments:

"While we’re leaning more into a polished metalcore sound, the record still maintains the essence of what makes Unprocessed unique. It features some of the craziest guitar, bass, and drum work we've ever showcased as a band. At the same time, we believe it’s more accessible to the broader metal and metalcore audience, with our strongest and catchiest hooks and melodies to date.”

The album begins with 111, which immediately delivers the heavier sound the band has spoken. An ambient intro bursts into distorted acoustic guitar–creating a sound that blends Unprocessed's progressive, clean thumping with extreme metal distortion to make a uniquely heavy sound. As we saw with their earlier single release, Dark, Silent, and Complete, Unprocessed is leaning more into cinematic, theatrical soundscapes, and 111 showcases this with distant choirs before introducing brutal chugging and screams. With just 2 choruses, 111 has a more unconventional song structure, with a focus on the bridge that brings solos, classical piano, and a chunky breakdown.

Sleeping With Ghosts begins with a similar industrial ambience as distant synths are met by lofi screams that soon launch into full band destruction as full-power screams, rapid blast beats, and technical guitar riffs blend proggesive rock and modern metal. Suddenly Unprocessed jumps into a metalcore-style chorus with upbeat singing, melodic guitar chords, and bright synths, creating a dynamic and energetic sound. Sleeping With Ghosts blends addictive pop vocal melodies with progressive metal and extreme metal intensity before fading with an talking sample.

Beyond Heaven's Gate starts off with a bright progressive rock riff that creates a dynamic introduction before danceable synths and infectious guitar chords foreshadow the song's chorus without vocals. Unprocessed creates contrast with softer verses that are more atmospheric before bursting into an addictively catchy chorus with powerful vocal hooks and enticing instrumentals. Beyond Heaven's Gate delivers a more melody-focused sound with a focus on singing rather than the previous 2 songs' primarily screaming vocals. Unprocessed still gives a taste of heaviness with some screams and chunky instrumentation.

Sacrifice Me follows seamlessly, starting with clean guitar and evolving pads that create a soundscape filled with depth that allows room for singing vocals to shine truly. Heavily distorted clean guitar creates the distinct Unprocessed sound that stands out so much before launching into grooving drums and fierce screams alongside dramatic chugs. Sudden silences with female choir samples create memorable moments that make heavy sections kick in with crushing brutality.

Snow Lover starts with heavy guitar that alternates with clean guitar, creating an immediate sense of contrast. Unprocessed slows things down with a spacious verse with gentler vocals before launching into another powerful singing chorus. Unprocessed is well-known for their ability to blend progressive rock with modern metal, but they are also experts at creating addictive vocal hooks, particularly in their memorable choruses.

Terrestrial introduces itself with a racing tempo as rapid guitar chugging follows galloping drumbeats and impactful screaming. Coming across like progressive thrash at first, Terrestrial suddenly launches into death metal-style breakdowns with low growls and unrelenting, slowed guitar. Unprocessed showcases one of the heaviest sounds of the album so far, alongside more vocal versatility, using screams, high screams, and even growls.

Your Dress begins with a thumping EDM bass as clean guitar plays short licks before cutting out. Soon, industrial, lofi electronic drum beats join the mix alongside whisper-singing before the song increases in intensity as heavy guitar is added. Unprocessed already has a distinct sound, but the band shows they aren't afraid of experimenting even further with Your Dress, utilizing elements from electronic genres. With ambient sections, full-intensity metal, and singing, Your Dress feels unorthodox and unique, changing things up from previous tracks.

The 8th song, Where I Left My Soul starts with a choppy rising pad and soft singing, building a melancholy sound. After about a minute, clean guitar and distant synth bass is introduced before the band jumps into an anthemic chorus with powerful guitar chords, soaring vocals, and slamming drum grooves. The first heavy guitar is introduced after the first chorus, before fading back into an ambient verse that leads into a final chorus, followed by an instrumental outro.

Solara starts with an electronic dance beat, screeching dissonance, and heavy guitars, making way for distorted singing that soon leads into full-energy screams. After a powerfully catchy chorus, things take a turn as guest artist Paleface Swiss adds rapid scream rapping that builds into an explosively heavy breakdown filled with impossibly fast nu metal vocals. In a final chorus, singing and screaming vocals alternate and layer overtop of each other, creating a sense of depth and change from previous choruses.

First Tongue acts as a short interlude which builds energy with bright piano, dark pads, and arpeggiated synth melodies. Perfume starts with clean guitar and singing that immediately invokes a feeling of melancholy before leading into energetic guitar chords, impactful drums, and singing that powerfully cuts through the mix. Taking a softer and more emotional sound, Perfume feels genuine as it transitions from gentler sections to upbeat choruses with synths, strong guitar melodies, and belting vocals.

Head in the Clouds features Jason Bu of Fever 333, who starts rapping from the beginning of the track. Wasting no time, heavy guitar is introduced as screams back up the rapping vocals. Ambient atmospheres and progressive guitar create a distinct sound as rapid vocal flows and a hip-hop edge to Unprocessed's signature sound. Head in the Clouds still includes a metalcore-style chorus and wildly heavy breakdown alongside the new rap elements, sticking to the roots of the band's musical style.

Dark, Silent, and Complete was released as a single leading up to the album release and is the longest and one of the most experimental tracks of Angel. Unprocessed begins the song with isolated screams, followed by racing blast beats and guitar chugging, creating a relentlessly heavy sound from the get-go. With one of out favorite breakdowns of the album, Dark, Silent, and Complete unexpectedly leads into a heartbeat-like bass, gentle singing, and dark strings creating an ambient and drawn out bridge that builds infectious pop vocal melodies that build into a minute and a half outro filled with some of the catchiest instrumental and vocal melodies of the album, creating a truly memorable outro to Angel.

With Angel, Unprocessed continues to refine their distinct sound that blends progressive rock guitar with metalcore choruses and extreme metal influences. The German act creates an instantly recognizable sound that is refreshing, taking on a new approach to traditional metal that feels exciting and wildly unique.

You can stream Angel, available on all streaming platforms on October 31st, 2025.

Below you can read our interview with Unprocessed's drummer Leon Pfeifer.

Exclusive interview with Unprocessed on Angel

1: What inspired "Angel" musically and lyrically? What was the creation process like for the album?

"Angel is basically the next step after …and everything in between. It’s a representation of our taste and mood during the time of creating it.
Lyrically, "Angel" sheds light into the areas of oneself that might be unknown still. There are some personal stories in it and it's carried by the idea that every person has something angelic in themself. In one way or another."

2: “Angel” has a lot of elements in the songs from outside of progressive and metal music. Are there any genres or influences that you want to include in a song that you haven't yet?

"We pretty much don’t think about that actively, to be honest. What happens to end up as a song is what we’ll have in the end :) "

3: Unprocessed has collaborated with acts like Paleface Swiss, Polyphia, and Fever 333. What is a band you'd love to work with on a song in the future?

"We’d love to work with Bands like Bring me the Horizon, Bad Omens, Spiritbox etc. But I also think Bands like Massive Attack or something more outside the Metal-realm would be very cool."

4: Unprocessed has a reputation for being technical and progressive. Does the band feel pressure from listeners to need to make things extra technical, or does it come naturally when writing the music?

"We don’t write technical stuff for the sake of being technical. The song always comes first."

5: Unprocessed started in 2013 and was a local act for a few years before it was considered "serious." Does it feel surreal looking at what you've achieved in your music career so far? What do you think the biggest difference is in the band's mentality or overall identity today?

"We’re super thankful to be able to do what we do. We get to see the world playing the music we love most. Realising that from time to time is very important. Essentially we are still the same people as we were 10 years ago. Just more mature and somewhat more secure in what we want to do and how to achieve that."

6: When fans look back on Unprocessed years from now, what do you hope they'll remember most about the band?

"Of course, our music and the party at our live shows!"

7: What's next for Unprocessed?

"We’ll do a lot of touring with Angel and then let’s see what happens next :) "

8: What's one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring band or musician that you wish someone had told you?

"Stay patient and make sure you look out for yourself in this industry. Nothing can be forced, and the only people who need to like your music are yourselves."

Thanks for reading!