“Individuals at all times like to check,” Manuel Gardner Fernandes says with an exasperated tone. “I can’t assist however marvel if folks will assume that this document is healthier than the final one.”

The frontman of German tech-metal favourites Unprocessed insists that isn’t why the band’s new album is offered in a polar-opposite approach to the earlier one, however it’s clearly one thing that’s on his thoughts. The brand new album is named Angel and comes packaged with a lush blue cowl. Put that side-by-side with the final one, …And The whole lot in Between, and it’s fairly stark. It had a fiery pink cowl. There was additionally a tune on it known as Hell. That’s fairly night-and-day, lads.

That sense of distinction extends to the music. …And The whole lot in Between was hyper-aggressive and riff-based, whereas Fernandes says the brand new stuff is “song-based”. However, past that, Unprocessed are nonetheless Unprocessed. They’re nonetheless the identical mind-bogglingly proficient firebrands who’ve racked up hundreds of thousands of social media hits, nearly undoubtedly made you are feeling insecure about your guitar taking part in no less than as soon as, and lengthy since figured their manner round a snacky refrain.

“This album isn’t one thing that turned out tremendous completely different [to the previous one],” says Fernandes over video name. “…And The whole lot in Between was, like, very evil. Simply, evil packed into 9 quick songs. This one, it’s a little bit bit extra of a journey. It has a number of selection and there are extra breaks.”

Angel is a smooth-as-silk convergence of tech-metal, prog and R&B. Opener 111 could kick off with a thudding riff and a cathartic scream from Fernandes, however it quickly expands right into a delicate, silken refrain, laced with synth. On Past’s Heaven Gate, the band kick off with a Polyphia-like prog jam. ‘Distant, distant – we depart solely angel mud,’ their singer/guitarist gently croons in the course of the refrain. ‘Distant, distant – we will strive, heal your wounds.’ That sense of Unprocessed exploring range even extends to the visitor stars: Marc “Zelli” Zellweger of deathcore up-and-comers Paleface Swiss snarls his lungs out for Solara, whereas Jason Aalon Butler of Letlive and Fever 333 brings a confrontational rap to Head within the Clouds.

“I nonetheless haven’t met Jason personally,” Fernandes admits. “We simply know one another on-line. He truly needed to do one thing for …And The whole lot in Between, however, due to time, he couldn’t do it. I uploaded a clip to Instagram: this heavy, emotional, eight-string riff. He was like, ‘Wow, that is tremendous sick! Let’s do one thing with it.’ He shared my imaginative and prescient for the entire tune.”

In an interview earlier this yr, Unprocessed’s drummer, Leon Pfeifer, known as Angel a pure “subsequent step” after …And The whole lot in Between. Nevertheless, Fernandes disagrees.

“…And The whole lot in Between had this extra surprising issue,” he explains. “We launched a really thrash metallic factor with a tune like Thrash, and it had this very viral second. I used to be not making an attempt to do one thing fully completely different or mind-blowing on this document. My concentrate on this document was simply having good songs.”

The frontman reveals that that ferocity was impressed by anger over a document label deal gone bitter. …And The whole lot in Between was Unprocessed’s first self-released effort, its 2022 predecessor Gold having come out by way of Spinefarm.

“Gold took us three years to launch,” he explains, “however not as a result of we weren’t prepared. And as we removed our reference to the label, I simply instantly hit my studio and was writing. It turned out to be tremendous heavy.”

Outdoors of Unprocessed, Fernandes is a social media celebrity. In 2019 and 2020, the participant gained widespread consideration by means of Instagram, with footage of him taking part in his instrument at seemingly inhuman speeds going viral. Nevertheless, it appeared that for each floored fan Fernandes picked up utilizing social media, there was one other individual insisting that he was faking his chops (he wasn’t). Regardless that that they had no proof to help their claims aside from the camera-phone footage being a bit fuzzy, they made their protestations very, very public.

“I had a journey with social media,” Fernandes displays, “and it was type of compressed into one yr of ups and downs. I used to be simply importing my clips they usually had been skyrocketing throughout social media. However, after that, instantly, I used to be caught in the course of a shit storm. After that complete controversy, I used to be like, ‘Do I even wish to be that bed room guitarist, that social media guitarist? Or, do I wish to step again and get my band to the place I used to be as a person guitar participant?’”

In 2023, Fernandes admitted to Guitar that he was terrified of being “cancelled” because of all of the controversy. Because of this, regardless that he has 311,000 Instagram followers proper now, he barely posts movies of himself taking part in guitar at dwelling anymore. Mix that with the truth that Unprocessed spent loads of time on the highway between …And The whole lot in Between and Angel, taking part in reveals with the likes of Tesseract and the Callous Daoboys, and it’s clear which route he ended up taking. It is sensible when he explains that he at all times needed to be a participant in a band anyway.

Fernandes first picked up a guitar when he was three years outdated. His granddad had been a touring guitarist and, on the time, his dad was a bassist in a thrash band. “He launched me to Metallica and Iron Maiden,” he remembers. “I’ve been a metallic fan since I used to be born, principally.”

When he was an adolescent, he additionally fell in love with darkish digital music, and he lists Large Assault and Depeche Mode amongst his favorite bands of all time. That combo of influences – lightspeed, intricate metallic alongside darkish, synthy atmospherics – is extraordinarily tangible all through Angel, with the tune Your Gown casting throbbing bass towards industrial beats. He began taking part in in bands at college, and he shaped Unprocessed aged 16 with co-guitarist Christoph Schultz, after they each auditioned for a spot in a canopy band.

In 2025, that childhood mission has flourished into an impartial enterprise, placing out albums and touring everywhere in the world. Nevertheless, Fernandes nonetheless finds the identical pleasure in creation and manufacturing that has at all times been there. He additionally clearly relishes the type of collaboration that solely a band may give, versus being a social media participant on the market by himself.

“My favorite factor to do nonetheless is sitting in my studio and producing music,” he says. “That pleasure hasn’t modified for the reason that starting of Unprocessed. The sensation of me bouncing a model of a tune to the boys, or exhibiting it to family and friends, that actually offers me pleasure.”

Fernandes is probably not vastly energetic on social media anymore, however he’s nonetheless plugged in to what’s occurring there, particularly what new guitarists are blowing up. So, after we requested him to call the viral gamers blowing his thoughts proper now, he rapidly rattled off an inventory of names. These are the net virtuosos you have to be watching in 2026:

Ando San

“I’ve by no means seen a man rapping and thumping on the similar time! It’s tremendous sick.”

RJ Pasin

“He’s achieved unbelievable issues with guitar manufacturing. Nearly all of guitarists most likely wouldn’t name him a guitarist within the first place. You may argue he’s or not, however this man is doing one thing recent within the music scene. His model is all about manufacturing. He’s extra a producer than a guitarist, in a manner. He’s nonetheless doing all these sounds with the guitar that make it particular.”

Spiro Dussias

“I don’t know what he’s doing! I don’t understand how he’s doing that! I got here throughout him on Instagram.”

Ichika Nito

“To start with, what made him stand out for me was his melodies. His compositions, I felt that they had been nearly soundtrack-ish, and I needed to do this as effectively. I simply love the fashionable DI sound with a number of reverb on it.”

Tim Henson, Polyphia

“When Polyphia first got here up, I can’t bear in mind the identify of the primary video I noticed, however there was extra solo shredding [in their music] again then. Since then, I’ve at all times checked out what Polyphia are doing. Tim began following me on Instagram, and the primary stuff that we did collectively was the In The Minimize video that Tim uploaded to his channel. After that, we did our tune Actual along with him and [Polyphia bassist] Clay Gober. After that, we went on a number of world excursions and did Die on the Cross of the Martyr, which might be the largest factor we’ve achieved collectively.”

Marcin

“In 2019, 2020, one thing like that, he wrote me a message saying, ‘Oh, my palms glitch too [referring to Fernandes’ “sped-up footage” controversy].’ [laughs] Since then, we began doing movies. The stuff that’s tremendous fascinating about him is simply his manner of utilizing his devices as a percussive component, which I really like. He sounds the identical reside as he does in his clips, and I really like that, as effectively. He has hundreds of thousands of followers, however he’s additionally pulling lots of people reside, which is very nice to see. He transferred it the appropriate manner, to the reside viewers.”

Angel is out now.