Speaking to the intrusive dilemma resultant of isolation through niche points of sub-genre suffusion Uppsala, Sweden-based progressive death metal duo FLOATING once again bring surrealist cinematic atmosphere and caustic angst to their collection of 80’s gothic rock and 90’s death metal texturing on this sophomore full-length album. For those seeking a progression in the shaping and linkage of forms suggested by their debut ‘Hesitating Lights‘ will make perfect sense, an easier flowing yet still unpredictive expression of dismayed singularity. Streamlined yet not polished to grotesque sheen this second pass rethinks the ratio of their inherent combination, reconstituting the struggle of avant-garde death metal while yet appealing to their more-than skin deep interest in maudlin, deadpan post-punk rock and in the process creates an alternative to the quasi-tradition of Swedish “dark metal” popularized in the late 90’s.

Floating formed circa 2021 between vocalist/guitarist Arvid Sjödin and bassist Andreas Hörmark both of whom are best known for their work in death metal band Morbid Illusion. When that group ceased the duo collaborated on a krautrock/synth rock project (Träskfeber) and their own synthpop/post-punk side projects ’til it began to make sense to infuse those ideas into ‘old school’ death metal sensibilities towards an avant-garde fusion. The result was generally described as progressive death via their debut LP (‘The Waves Have Teeth‘, 2022), an album which I’d loved from the first listen and eventually released on CD and cassette in very limited runs. Inspired by the films of Ingmar Bergman, modern avant-garde groups and the general circa ’79 gothic/post-punk affect the battle between mostly guitar driven gothic rock shapes, rock rhythms and their niche interests in atmospheric death metal was at-times loose in its transitional points but overall an unusually expressive concoction that fans of Tribulation and ‘Grey Dawn‘-era October Tide would appreciate. Reviews at the time rarely mentioned the skillful bass guitar work from Hörmark and the odd-angled serves taken within the band’s rhythmic hand, these reappear as key structure on the similar-yet-evolved ‘Hesitating Lights‘.

While the jangling gleam of 80’s guitar toned rock is still a big shaper in the murk of Floating‘s melted-together forms the duo notably introduce both synthesizers and a sort of shoegazing post-metallic cinema to their broadened kit (see: “Cough Choir”). This allows the spectacle of their rhythms to evolve without giving face value treatment to either side of the sub-genre fence, separating their work distinctly from the “dark metal” spectrum of death metal which has deep history in the greater Swedish extreme metal zeitgeist. The result is an album which exaggerates the gloom of gothic rock with elastic, obsessive rhythms that’re tasked to adapt to frequent points of interruption just as before. This time around the duo show a slickened sense of transitional positioning, presenting multiple turning points within most pieces.

What the post-punk/gothic rock inspired side of Floating brings back to death metal is a sense of patience in deliberation, the building of texture in order to present aggression as emotional output rather than a masking of it. The immediacy of opener “I Reached the Mew” arrives in droning stages, not unlike the suggested circa ’79 gravitas of post-punk’s most depressive names, in this instance the Sjödin‘s growls are an internalized unreliable narrator seemingly still mired in the gutting of the solitary lighthouse keeper characterized in the previous album as they’ve even reprised similar synth/sounds as if motif pulled from ‘The Waves Have Teeth‘. The more harried, angularly skronked intro to “Grave Dog” maybe has more Morbus Chron than anything else on its crack into it but it’ll be a long walk on ever-shifting ground ’til these folks have released their full idea in cyclic drip of variously bopping and draining rhythms. Though the conversation is only just starting within those opening pieces a restless, uncanny characterization begins to form in the process and I’d say this time around they’ve generated interest quicker per increasingly congested movements.

Just as quickly the thought of a “gothic death metal album” begins to crumble in ear a bit as the avant-handed death metal grooves of “Exit Bag Song” reach for blasting, lead-driven exposition neatly interlaced with corner-turning rock tropes that’ve been again deconstructed to develop in stages around death metal-adjacent riffing and roaring. This song in particular recalls a less focused ‘Venture‘-era Stench per the bap of its rhythms, clawing up a wall as soon as the dual guitar rant begins creating friction between its parts. I was glad to see there is still a busied, challenging touch to Floating‘s compositions, even if it doesn’t always make “sense” the effect in line with the lyrics is well conveyed. The “Harmless Fires” portion of “Hesitating Lights/Harmless Fires” basically takes the edge off of similar ideas and jams through them, and while it doesn’t reflect the “black album” tinged thrash rock of say, Sentenced‘s ‘Frozen‘ there is a sort of loss of density of ideas felt which recalls the extended ranting of that record to some small degree sans any sensation of it being built in a rehearsal space.

The low-set grooves of “Still Dark Enough” eventually pull back on the extreme metal side of things, creating a watery release within the song in slow dissolve that’d kinda lost me until its sharpest hook is left for its final guitar line. In direct contrast “The Wrong Body” brings more of a discordant, downstroked death metal groove up front as the album’s tone reaches for desperation and furor via its briefest, almost noir-laced endpoints forming. Otherwise the shaking gloom which wafts from “The Waking” around ~2:45 minutes in might be the heaviest wave produced on ‘Hesitating Lights‘ and while it isn’t the most glowing peak per the experience it is a fitting rush to send the mind wandering off with. The full listen presents a less abrasive version of the bands greater vision which is yet evocative of the dreary, lonesome realm Floating inhabit and the perceived trade-off found here is that improve fidelity and less linearly presented pieces have been composed with fewer points of repetition to cling to.

While I’d gone in suspecting this album would be heavier on the gothic rock/post-punk twang, having perceived this as under-served on the previous record to some degree, it was the maze of death metallic riff-and-release in irregular motion that’d been most profound in reflection of the ‘Hesitating Lights‘ experience. The actual statement found herein is abstracted and Floating are yet channeling the energy of film and music which “shows” rather than “tells” though the mood is tempered into narrative just enough that these songs make some general sense when taking in a row. The bigger picture, the greater mood and affectation of is also a bit better communicated via the artwork (once again via Påhl Sundström) this time around as the skinned and abstracted oily corpse on the cover still manages an expression despite the chopped, reversed and newsprint stippled scratch of the image. Otherwise I’m not sure what the band’ve intended to communicate here beyond the congested, frustrated misery of its overall tone but their work has once again impressed me just as much as their debut had, losing none of its cross-hatched idealism or personage in the process of iteration and refinement. A high recommendation.

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