A loose concept album inspired by and drawing on themes from Dante's Inferno,[4][5] it contains the singles "Eat Your Young" and "Francesca", along with the song "All Things End".

Hozier toured Ireland, the UK, North America, Australia, and New Zealand in support of the record from June 2023 to November 2024.

[6] Unreal Unearth as a whole signifies a journey through Dante's nine circles of Hell and coming out at the other side, with each song referring to a specific "universal theme" or feeling.

It includes four songs originally recorded for Unreal Unearth: "Too Sweet", "Wildflower and Barley" featuring Allison Russell, "Empire Now", and "Fare Well".

The tracks represent the stages of gluttony, limbo, violence, and ascent, respectively, from Dante's Inferno, but did not make the final cut for the album.

[21] CT Jones of Rolling Stone stated that "Hozier doesn't just succeed in exploring that dark emotional world; his painful ascent makes the listener immediately want to climb with him.

[16] Aliya Chaudhry of NME remarked that Unreal Unearth "traverses a variety of styles from softer piano ballads like 'Butchered Tongue' to up-tempo folk-pop 'Anything But' and fuzzy-guitar rock stomp 'Francesca'", making the album "a product of going where the song takes you".

[22] Sam Eeckhout of Paste stated that the album is "packed full of poetic lyricism, heavyhearted remorse, hopeful anticipation and an honest expression of the joys and sorrow of being a human" and has "a sharp balance" that makes it "never top-heavy" nor "ever stagnant".

[18] Pitchfork's Peyton Thomas described the album as a "mishmash of mythology and past-date pop that leaves [Hozier] sounding like an interloper".

The Teskey Brothers, Victoria Canal, Madison Cunningham, Brittany Howard, Lord Huron, and The Last Dinner Party joined Hozier as openers during the initial leg of the tour.