Album Review: Unreal Unearth | Hozier
How can Irish people tell when it’s summer? The rain gets warmer
Unreal Unearth is the third studio album by Irish-born musician and “Take Me To Church” hitmaker Hozier. He opens the curtain on this record by digging into his Irish heritage. He sings in Irish and incorporates Gaelic into this record’s themes and song titles. He said in an interview with the Irish Times “There's so much that cannot be expressed outside of that language, that language can express that we're unaware of".
Thematically, this album is broad. It draws inspiration from the universal feeling of falling in love and parting ways. Still, it moves cyclically experiencing these themes in the present moment and reflecting upon them in the future. Unreal Unearth draws on religious iconography in several songs on this record. Hozier writes songs about lust, gluttony, and wrath, and produces comparisons to angels and demons throughout, Hozier structures many tracks around the layers of hell mentioned in Dante’s Inferno.
Written over the last 3 years, Hozier acknowledges this record was birthed from the weird shared experience from the pandemic and how so much has shifted and changed in the world. It’s about how man has found himself in new conditions and circumstances.
This album, as previously mentioned, covers many themes. A common thread, however, can be Hozier’s references to famous literature. I would have never picked up on any of these references without his interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. Eat Your Young, for example, refers to the early 18th-century satirical essay A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift, suggesting poor Irish should sell their children as food. Hozier, despite claiming to NOT be a bookworm, is exhibiting English Major behavior all over this record. On I, Carrion (Icarian) he mentions Icarus and tries to capture the feeling of lifting off and having wins and the lightness that comes when you’re falling in love.
Similar to its themes, the album encompasses a broad soundscape as well. De Selby (Part 2) is a modern indie-funk rock track. Anything But is an Irish Pub Song incorporating American pop elements. Hozier’s slow and soft side shows out on Unknown/Nth, and his social commentary is most present in Butchered Tongue where Hozier talks about refers to attempts by the British administration to destroy the Irish language through colonialism. Interesting thematically, but a huge snooze of a song. The album is imaginative and does some things nicely, but sometimes these tracks fall victim to the unfortunate case of having too many cooks in the kitchen. His first two albums were almost completely self-written, while some tracks on this album have 10.
Overall, Hozier takes us to church once again but this time the church is a megachurch so things fall through the cracks and teeter on the edge of having too many people in the lobby. Hozier’s haunting and sincere vocals shine through as the best part of the record.
Check out our favorite tracks, listen to the album, and see our scores below:
Can’t Miss: Francesca, Abstract (Psychopomp), De Selby (Part 2), Damage Gets Done
You Can Skip: Anything But, Unknown / Nth, To Someone From A Warm Climate (Uicefhuartihe)
BY THE NUMBERS
Bennett’s Score: 7.13
Carson’s Score: 6.88
Album Score: 14.00
We’ve updated our All-Time Album Rankings page. Stay tuned for more updates with the overall songs coming soon!
Here are our all-time top albums featured on Pop Lobster.
Funk Wav Bounces, Vol 1 | Calvin Harris | Score: 16.60
Speak Now | Taylor Swift | Score: 15.68
the record | boygenius | Score: 14.48
Lover | Taylor Swift | Score: 14.42
AUSTIN | Post Malone | Score: 14.41
Sunburn | Dominic Fike | Score: 14.33
Endless Summer Vacation | Miley Cyrus | Score: 14.00
**Unreal Unearth | Hozier | Score: 14.00**
In The End It Always Does | The Japanese House | Score: 13.92
Barbie: The Album | Various Artists | Score: 13.88
Gag Order | Kesha | Score: 13.77
UTOPIA | Travis Scott | Score: 12.79
The Album | Jonas Brothers | Score: 12.67
Stick Season | Noah Karan | Score: 12.43
Notes from Bennett:
Francesca has occupied the part of my brain that replays songs over and over again for roughly 2 weeks now with no intent of vacating. That chorus + outro is my brain’s sonic representation of the uncanny.
Eat Your Young is sick. I like the way he used this reference (and educated me on the paper), to apply it to other things in his life. I was also shocked to see there are 9 credited writers on this song?!?! bro is getting no streaming royalties ever.
I like Who We Are as a song, I’m just hearing a few mixing issues. The vocal mix is not very settled into the rest of the track, especially in the verses. Luckily this issue is isolated to just this track. Or I’m just hearing things weirdly.
I love it when artists do this kind of thing, interpolate and mess with different songs on the album to create a cool theme, at least that is what I think Son Of Nyx is. Billie Eilish did this well on the outro of her first studio album if you need a quick reference.
Abstract (Psychopomp) Is my favorite on the record, It’s very Coldplay, and I love where Hozier takes this track.
Notes from Carson:
This record was made to be played live. The sound on so many of these tracks is LARGE and built for stadiums. (not that he could sell them out). Like all Hozier albums, I find this one also a little bloated. It drags in the middle / back half with Who We Are, Son of Nyx, To Someone From A Warm Climate, and Butchered Tongue. That’s fine, I’ve learned to accept that Hozier isn’t going to make a tight, packaged 11-track record but a warning to listeners. There are some great tracks here but the weaker tracks drag it downnnnnnn.
Anything But sounds straight out of the Lion King soundtrack. Tell me you don’t hear it. I also can’t stand this song whoops.
The build-up to the chorus on Who We Are is major The Fray vibes—soft piano verse to loud-punch chorus.
Finally, we get a Pop Song! We need Brandi Carlile to have a renaissance. She’s so well known in the industry but I feel like she’s never quite had a successful “hit.” Damage Gets Done is the best song here.
I didn’t like All Things End until the album came out—quite the grower.
Son Of Nyx cracking me up a little because it feels like a scene from an action movie when a major character dies and everything changes in the plot and their in some undisclosed desert location. I like interludes sometimes but not 3 minute ones.
I, Carrion (Icarian) is a sweet little song about falling in love. It’s kinda reminding me of a Paul Simon/Simon & Garfunkel vibe. Not my fave but it’s cute.
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Like your song by song rating, I also felt like the record started off strong and got weaker and less inspired as it went along. I did not research the lyrics so thanks for the background on that.
This is great, guys.
We're pretty impressed by "Who We Are"