In describing his project, and personal philosophy that guides it, Guillaume Galaup—the individual behind Limbes, as well as Blurr Thrower—speaks of the power that forms between opposites. The one, limbo (Limbes in French), light, ethereal, and weightless; the other, nothingness (adem), total blackness, spaceless, silent. Both, however, are equally transcendent, and for Limbes, form the essential, beautiful, and sometimes terrifying space in which existence plays out. This abstract, metaphysical approach to existential thought could hardly be better expressed than by the medium he chooses. Noisy, droning, atmospheric black metal where synths and tremolos blur into one, and across which Galaup’s tortured shrieks echo. Liernes is an intense, cathartic representation of spiritual anxiety and anguish. Even its cover art,1 where an emblem of death and mortality supports a symbol of hope for eternal life invites paradoxical interpretation in line with Limbes’ ethos. The strict monotheism— as much a signifier of oppression as the promise of death— is a form of freedom from suffering.
And, in a way, calling Liernes atmoblack sells it very short. The vocals are too human, filled with a pain and a presence that’s easily distinguishable from the wailing instrumentation behind. The percussion, also, is too commanding, and complex; the use of multi-layered cymbals in particular a striking, and very effective characteristic. This is not to say that atmospheric black metal cannot be emotionally powerful and gripping—definitely not in a world where Mare Cognitum exists—of course it can. But Limbes’ music nonetheless extends its breadth, across to the ambient and immersive realms of post and experimental metal in its all-surrounding aether, but surprising clarity. And on the other end, it’s quite powerfully raw. Strip away the pervasive haze of melody, and you are left with blisteringly fierce black metal; the fact that the melody is actually there only amplifies the pathos of the yearning, bleeding scream that is Liernes. The choice to tell this musical autobiography over just four long-form songs adds yet another level of immersion, their gradual builds and falls filling the proverbial air and drowning all else out.
As you listen (and relisten, and relisten) to Liernes, it’s hard not to be struck by its sheer force. “Aulnes & Poussières,” opens the album immediately with a wall of semi-dissonant, wavering noise, and it’s not long before the percussion tumbles into full gear within it, and the high screams that play off the ever-higher, urgent tones of melody flood in. Layers upon layers of dense instrumentation build subtly but inevitably, threatening to sweep you away as a song reaches its next transformation with a lingering howl (“Aulnes…”) and a swooping, melancholic key change (“Buffet Frigide,” “Pied de Pilori”2). And as the anguished gasps of Galaup tug painfully at your heart (“Aulnes…,” “Pied de Pilori”), the aforementioned cascades of battering cymbal hits propel you along like a tide (“Les Côtes…,” and especially “Pied de Pilori”). This momentum is all the more powerful when juxtaposed with the dreamlike moments of relative stillness; post-metal calm amidst the surrounding extreme metal storm, around which the careless caresses of percussion resounds (“Les Côtes…”), and the gorgeous premonition of soft female vocals (from Kariti) haunts (“Buffet Frigide”). Reaching a climax of sudden and stunning potency, every track contains its own thoroughly enveloping catharsis, whether through the brute impenetrability of noise (Les Côtes…”) or dramatic vocal duet (“Buffet Frigide”). I would be lying if I said that during my own more vulnerable moments listening to this album, I didn’t feel the sting of tears.
Liernes may be built in such a way as to resist memorability., but this doesn’t undermine its strength. It’s partly a quirk of the subgenre it mainly occupies, though, as I’ve indicated, this is no standard, monotonous atmoblack. Rather, it is more like a dream that fades away with each waking moment that passes, but that you try desperately to grasp at. Its surface-level monochrome bursts into color with only the slightest of attention, so that, unlike that dream, you can relive it, however fleetingly.
Limbes, previously unknown to me, have taken my heart by storm. As visceral in its musicality, as it is in its emotionality, Liernes ought rightly to carry this project into the light of admiration by black metal aficionados. Brave its storm if you can.
Rating: Great
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: wav
Label: Frozen Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: July 5th, 2024
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