Album Review: Unbelievable Lake – I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (Cursed Monk Records)

Belfast/South Derry heavy experimental psych trio Unbelievable Lake’s second LP, ‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream’ is out on June 13th, 2025, via Cursed Monk Records. It is the follow up to 2020’s Forgive, and is a single 41-minute piece, where repetition drives focus on the liminality, identity and the suffocating paralysis of Northern Ireland society.

 

 

Time and patience, things that are often a bit of a commodity, but things that are necessary to get the most out of this stunning piece of music. Where the experience can be best summarised as a spiritual experience. Forty-one minutes and twenty-two seconds of experimental music that fuses genres in such a way that it truly does become its own thing, even if it’s made up of familiar elements born from the psych scene.

Creating a myriad of feelings, the most prominent being the ones that alternate between comfort and discomfort, Unbelievable Lake don’t just capture despondency, they embody it. Yet, this isn’t miserable music per-se, rather, it creates the sensation of it, alongside other confusing and enlightening feelings. The more time spent with it, the longer it goes on, the more it shifts and shimmers, the more it demands, and the stronger the toll becomes. Through repetition, Unbelievable Lake drive the listener to the brink of madness, but more often than not, they craft an environment that excites the mind, rather than repels it.

Here’s the thing, I’m not going to even pretend that this is something everyone can enjoy. Far from it, it’s for a specific person or persons, and not focused on what modern music expectations demand. However, there is no arguing with the captivating qualities of music this eclectic and this eccentric. As much trouble as I had with it, and I had a lot, I still found myself listening on and interested to see how it would develop next.

They’re a clever band, it’s as simple as that.

Make up your own mind here. It’s mightily progressive, tremendously experimental, extremely psychedelic, and unbelievably weird. That’s got to make it worth at least one listen, right?

Unbelievable Lake – I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream Track Listing:

1. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

Links

Bandcamp | Cursed Monk Records