Hozier Lands First UK No.1 Album As ‘Unreal Unearth’ Debuts At Summit
The Irish singer-songwriter had previously reached No.3 with his eponymous 2014 album and No.6 with the 2019 follow-up ‘Wasteland, Baby!’
Hozier has achieved his first UK No.1 album, with the news from the Official Charts Company that Unreal Unearth has debuted at the summit today.
“It’s a special feeling to receive this kind of support in your home country,” said Hozier. “A massive thank you to everyone in Ireland for all the love and support shown to #UnrealUnearth! News of this number 1 has me absolutely thrilled.”
The Irish singer-songwriter had previously reached No.3 in the UK with his eponymous 2014 album – which went platinum nine months later and double platinum in 2019 – and No.6 with the 2019 follow-up Wasteland, Baby! The new album also debuts atop the Official Vinyl Albums chart.
The album features “Eat Your Young,” released as its lead track in March, and “Damage Gets Done,’ with a guest appearance by Brandi Carlile. Hozier is one of the set‘s many co-producers, along with Bekon, Chakra, Craig Balmoris, Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman, Jennifer Decilveo, Pete G, Sergiu Gherman, and Tyler Mehlenbacher.
In a five-star review, the Daily Telegraph’s Neil McCormick lavished praise on the album, describing Hozier as “a singer-songwriter who deserves to be considered among the very best of his peers. Operating as Hozier, Unreal Unearth is only his third album in nine years, but it is further evidence of an artist who takes pride in every aspect of his craft, concocting songs of emotional and philosophical depth in richly detailed sonic environments that push this venerable genre into thrilling new spaces.He plays guitar deftly and sings beautifully, drawing on folk, blues and roots forms to marry flowing melodies to meaningful lyrics.”
The Guardian’s Damien Morris wrote: “Irish singer-songwriter Andrew Hozier-Byrne’s third album is a lot. A teetering stack of soul and rock teeming with furrow-browed, denim-jacketed, glass-cased emotion. It should come with a reading list – its 16 songs are patterned by way of Dante’s Inferno and he has said that epic poetry such as Metamorphoses inspired him.”
Aliya Chaudhry noted in the NME: “It’s been a decade since Andrew Hozier-Byrne (better known as Hozier) landed on listeners’ radars with the viral, now diamond-certified track, ‘Take Me to Church’ and since then he’s amassed a devoted online fanbase. Four years after releasing his last album, ‘Wasteland, Baby!,’ Hozier is back with Unreal Unearth, an ambitious sixteen-track odyssey inspired by Dante’s Inferno and structured around the nine circles of hell.”
Buy or stream Unreal Unearth.
