It’s nice when an old friend comes to visit. You know, that friend who you don’t sit down with very often but, when you do, it’s easy and fun, and you remember why you were friends in the first place. Sure, they’ll have some news, they’ll be a little bit older (so will you, buddy boy!) and, who knows, they might have even matured a bit. But fundamentally it’s going to be a low-effort, really good time. That’s how I felt when I saw that British Columbia’s Liminal Shroud were dropping third record, Visions of Collapse. The trio’s debut, Through the False Narrows, caught my attention with its crushing, organic, almost Agallochian brand of atmoblack, and squeezed a(n obviously very correct) 4.0 out of me, late in 2020. Upping the atmospheric quotient, their sophomore record, 2022’s All Virtues Ablaze, was another great album, scored as such. Still recognizably Liminal Shroud, it refined their sound, adding complexity and melodicism to the pitch-black misery. Quietly confident I’m going to love it and score it highly, I press play on Visions of Collapse.
“Yeeesssss,” croons my inner me, wriggling a little deeper into my armchair, as the sonorous chords of opener “Nocturnal Phosphorescence” wash over me. I can physically feel the build, as Aidan Crossley’s guitar collects deft cymbal touches and light percussion, like a snowball gathering pace downhill. It duly rips into me, as Drew Davidson’s kit blasts into life, and Rich Taylor’s bass line adds that organic fluidity that defines Liminal Shroud. On Visions of Collapse, adorned in that gorgeous cover art, the band absolutely nails the opening to each of the record’s five songs, which sound like they were lab-grown to appeal to me. From the opener, through the lithe, shimmering guitar line that dances its way into life on “Nucleonic Blight” and the doom-laden menace of “Resolve”‘s opening salvo, to closer “The Carving Scythe”‘s drum solo start (during which I flashback to Death’s “Scavenger of Human Sorrow”), each track gets a little frisson of excitement going as it starts.
Visions of Collapse by Liminal Shroud
For those who have followed the band to date, Visions of Collapse is closer in tone to All Virtues Ablaze, than it is to the debut. The songwriting, described by the band as “serpentine,” prioritizes flow and progression, over all-out assault, a feeling emphasized by the scattered non-harsh vocal passages. That’s not to say that Liminal Shroud has abandoned black metal, but the blazing front end of “Nucleonic Blight” gives way to a closing third that is decidedly ponderous and introspective, recalling the two-part closer from All Virtues Ablaze. Similarly, the soaring guitar melody that rears up around the 3-minute mark in album highlight “Malaspina,” and carries that track beautifully to its close, feels like it could have been ripped, screaming out of Mare Cognitum’s Solar Paroxysm.
However—and I’m afraid there is a “however”—Visions of Collapse doesn’t quite land for me. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good album, with some top-tier material (“Malaspina” and the front half or so of “Nucleonic Blight” are as good as anything the band has written to date), but the album as a whole lacks bite. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why but I think the fault is shared between songwriting and production. While only 44 minutes long, which to my mind is just about perfect for this style, the record feels longer. Liminal Shroud’s description of the material as serpentine is spot on: fluid, and elegant but lacking any real peaks or spiky edges. It’s not that the harshness is missing—the rasping vocals are wrapped in crushed glass, Davidson’s beats blast, Crossley’s tremolos are subzero—but, other than the track openings, those epic, fist-clenching moments or riffs that demand your attention are largely missing. This is compounded by the production, which, despite the DR rating, sounds a bit flat and one-dimensional, stripping the guitars in particular of their bite.
Alright, it may also be that Visions of Collapse doesn’t quite meet my very high expectations but, while I try not to review albums simply by reference to a band’s previous efforts, it’s impossible not to draw comparisons. And, when one does that, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that, although this is undoubtedly good, Liminal Shroud haven’t matched either the raw, organic edge of Through the False Narrows, or the epicness of cuts like “Transmigration II – The Cleansing Ash” from All Virtues Ablaze. Three albums into their career, this is the first thing approaching a misstep from Liminal Shroud and it only qualifies as such by reference to their excellence to date.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Willowtip Records
Websites: liminalshroud.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/liminalshroudofficial
Releases Worldwide: July 5th, 2024
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