Liminal Shroud - Visions of Collapse

Liminal Shroud is a black metal band from Canada, who formed in 2018.  Their new album, “Visions of Collapse,” is their third full-length album; they have also released a demo.

Liminal Shroud have become one of my favorite modern black metal bands.  They reach a level of despondency that has now been taken to the next level with “Visions of Collapse.”  As with their past albums, their black metal is absolutely loaded with melancholy and depressive atmospheres.  However, they dive head first into the songwriting on this album; but instead of getting trapped within themselves, they harness their true potential.

The songs are more intricate and grasp the concept of melody and the understand that it can be used to make a bleak sound even more unfathomable.   Yes, their music has always had these traits but now they are zeroed in on it more than ever.  

With five tracks, it stretches its boundaries across 44 minutes of length, a little longer than their previous album.  However, it isn’t overly long but it doesn’t matter because the songs breeze by because they offer so many details to keep the engagement high.

The production  brings the songs to life with a full sound that isn’t so suffocating the instruments can’t be heard.  Each instrument can be picked out of the mix at any given moment and they all offer rewarding experiences should your ear choose to follow one over the year.  Regardless of their individual journeys, they all come together in the end to make the song whole and memorable.

The album opens with “Nocturnal Phosphorescence,” which begins with clean tones and melodic bass.  The lead guitar works it’s magic as it walks a path between the notes.  As the build up moves ever forward, the drums offer a prelude as it begins to ramp up the energy one beat at a time.  

Around the 1:32 mark, the double bass kicks in just after the first distorted notes make their presence known.  The clean gives way to dour riffs and an almost doom metal tempo and atmosphere.  The band doesn’t rest for long, suddenly speeding the song up to blackened tempos.  The bass kicks up its game and is certainly the MVP through much of the musical transitions.

The key here, as with the album as a whole, is how the songs change without it coming off as a band being indecisive or wayward.  On the contrary, the band is laser focused as the songs unfurl smoothly.

Death growls pierce the veil as the song doubles down on intensity.  The drums help move the song back to a slower tempo and the lower growls grab onto it.  The song finishes with that classic black metal rage we all know and love.

Ambient, spacey tones start “Nucleonic Blight” with an alien tone.  The cadence of the vocals and drums add an alarming sense of urgency to the riffs, which walk a fine between melodic and dense. The instruments both compare and contrast against each other, offering an unique perspective that changes every time you listen to it. The song gets frenzied after the halfway mark with the lead guitar just before the drums hammer it all down.  The bass reaches out, and snares, a wonderful, darkly emotive passage that finishes out the song.

“Resolve,” is the longest song on the album but it is more immediate than the previous two.  The guitars and bass create blackened melodies as the vocals scream out for the skies.  I love how the drums compliment the other instruments, leading the ears around to other parts of the song while remaining wholly enjoyable themselves.

The song is very subtle in speeding up but by the time the halfway point begins to descend, some of heavier moments on the album arrive.  With them comes clean vocals that are nearly ethereal in their presentation but their low presence in the mix works in the song’s favor.  

At just a few seconds over the four minute mark, “Malaspina,” is the shortest song on the album but it is placed well in the song, a final hail mary before the final epic.  I can’t say it’s much of a respite, however, as the beginning is furious as well as a passage just after the halfway mark.  The ending is rather intricate with a lot of cool guitars happening as it fades off into the void.

The final song, “The Carving Scythe,” is perhaps my favorite on the album.  The band goes for broke, reaches deep, and pulls out the very essence of what makes the band tick.  If anyone wanted an example of the band’s music, I’d be comfortable recommending this song as a starting point. 

The highlight is the band going from lumbering to frantic after the three minute mark but playing with liminal spaces that offer a much different midsection before the song barrels through once again to the album’s finish.

It has been said there is no point in fixing what isn't broken…with Liminal Shroud’s “Visions of Collapse,” they refined what already worked for them to create their best work yet and set the stage for the rest of their star spawned journey.