REVIEW: As Everything Unfolds - DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE?

AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS get bold on sophomore album DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE?, elevating metalcore with heavy electronic and classic rock influences and creating characters as vessels to explore what freedom means. Each track is varied but equally honest despite being played through a fictitious voice, making this project the quartet’s most layered project to date.  

Metalcore acts as the foundation for the heavy set tracks across DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE? while Adam Kerr’s guitar is focused on classic rock melodies that harmonise with the drum and bass style electronica that sit atop the albums soundscape. This is best shown in SET IN FLOW which feels like an homage to PENDULUM in its introduction of vocals increasing in volume and guitars mixed with warped synths. Its body is introduced by Charlie Rolfe’s scream and its tone by the vocals robotised by autotune and chopped into the chorus; the balance of hard rock riffs and dirty drum and bass is struck perfectly, so much so that by SET IN FLOW's gritty breakdown the stank starts to hurt the face muscles.

The blending of genres has been intentional and sets the mood for each track: GASOLINE incorporates an 80s groove into the party rock atmosphere it has, opting for stop/start bridges over breakdowns and a halftime final chorus perfect for throwing it down at the end of the world, then changing to the use of a piano for the melody of FIND ANOTHER WAY which melts into the EDM in the introduction, and the drums in its intermission that creates a spaced out feel to a track that describes the struggle of moving forward. Not to worry though for fans of AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS’ original sound - POINT OF VIEW comes in with a heavy bassy introduction and chaos in its body, breaking down beneath Rolfe’s screams and sliding chords which crafts something sultry while packed with angst.

The depth of DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE? comes in the songwriting, where Rolfe’s created a character as a bridge to explain and protects her feelings, many no doubt from coming to terms with the loss of her partner and AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS drummer Jamie Gowers. On the surface each track is storyboarded around a hard breakup, with references to death throughout feeling like a crack in a façade to what Rolfe was writing about in part with “living life in memoriam” from FIND ANOTHER WAY being the most obvious. However, this bridging comes to life in the themes of breaking free and the conflict of moving forward present throughout DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE? - REVERIE focuses on the latter in particular, where “rose coloured glasses broken in two/distorted deception through your lens too” sets up the breakup imagery, then moves between wanting to hang on and wanting to let go without a final answer.

 This answer seems to come in penultimate track EDGE OF FOREVER, which begins with a line that embodies going through the motions in “Life in colour but equally in monochrome” on top of an acoustic guitar. EEDGE OF FOREVER is where DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE? admits that it does want to be able to continue to live and experience the world but is nervous i.e. “won’t let it in/won’t let it go”; a dichotomy known to those who are experiencing everything they’ve wanted, apart from being able to do it with someone who now isn’t there. Together, these create an accessible route to explain to the listener the conflicts of grief and growth in age without needing to lay bare each memory, with the character Rolfe speaks through being easy to sympathise and relate to. 

AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS have created an addictive blend of metalcore and EDM, taking classic rock riffs and melodies to create an elevated version of a sound they already created at strength. DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE? is vulnerable, with the use of characters and allegory foregrounding the fear of being free to feel and express oneself while providing a bridge for the listener to access the inner conflicts of grief and coming to terms with adversity. It's a layered project in its soundscape and in its lyrics, the two years taken to put it together is shown in the intentionality and passion of every element of every track.

Score: 9/10

DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE? will be released on April 10th 2026 via Century Media Records.

Words: Julia Brunton

Photos: As Everything Unfolds