ALBUM REVIEW: Leaden Light – Illimitable Dolor

ILLIMITABLE DOLOR are a band that have managed to keep themselves very busy over the last couple of years. Taking their cues from early Death Doom, ILLIMITABLE DOLOR liberally pepper their sound with solid, arching atmospherics that add a vast quality to their sound, a style that they have clearly mastered very quickly. Since the release of their debut, self titled full length, ILLIMITABLE DOLOR have not rested on their laurels, working on not only their new album, Leaden Light, but releasing a great split with PROMETHEAN MISERY back in February. This second full length album comes almost two years to the day since the release of their debut, and in spite of the swiftness with which this album was written and recorded, the quality of the music has suffered a bit, with the sound, if anything, sounding even tighter and more powerful than their debut.

ILLIMITABLE DOLOR kick things off with Armed He Brings The Dawn – a vast, monolithic opener, which sets the tone for the rest of Leaden Light very nicely. Deeply atmospheric, and built around dense rhythm sections and haunting, spartan lead guitar motifs that inject plenty of melancholy into the sound, it does a great job of balancing the death and doom influences in the sound. The grandiose lead guitar and keyboards take their cue from bleak and powerful doom metal, with the rhythm section and the vocals both having the robust, bellicose edge of death metal, something that helps to provide a lot of weight to the overall sound. The music ebbs and flows, allowing the guitars and keyboards to take centre stage at many points, depending on what sort of sound and emotive feel is required. The lead hooks and keyboard compositions provide much of the variety in this song, although the bass, drums and vocals to have their moments, and slide from one motif to another quite seamlessly, making the whole song sound coherent and varied, without having to jump suddenly from one section to the next. The progression of the sound feels natural, and nothing on here feels forced or contrived at any point. It’s a great way to kick this album off, and sets the bar at a lofty height right out of the gate.

Soil She Bears proves to be a monstrous, yet bleak, piece of music with thick, full chords, thunderous drum passages and booming, hair-raising keyboard motifs that give this song a very epic and grandiose feel right away. Moving forward at a relatively funereal pace, it’s a slow burning monolith of a song that gradually builds momentum, leading to a great closing section. A brief interlude towards the middle of the track provides a great, sublime break from the more intense sound that characterised this songs first few minutes, with keyboard driven hooks and light, clean guitar tones making for an altogether more relaxed and measured sound, before launching back into a far more robust, morose sound for the closing moments. The vocals contrast really well with the music throughout this entire track, with tar like, dense gutturals meshing perfectly with the crisp and glorious sound of the music. It’s another stunning piece of music that further cements the sound and emotive tone of the music.

Horses Pale And Four proves to be another epic, sprawling piece of music with solid, dense rhythms, hypnotic drum passages and heady keyboard sections, which blend really well with the slick, soaring riffs that liberally pepper this song. The vocals are used much more sparingly on here, making their presence known when the time comes for them to appear, but for the most part allowing the music to come to the forefront and carry the song. Some sublime keyboard pieces towards the end of the first half of the song do a great job of bridging the gap between the two parts of the song, and immediately jump out and grab the listeners attention when they start, proving to be a great tool to keep the listener focused on the music. Towards the climax of the song, the music shifts up a gear, getting slightly quicker and adding plenty more intensity, before we return to the opening motif on the song, bringing the whole sound full circle before shifting into the songs final, guitar orientated motif. This is great from start to finish, and proves to be one of the stand out tracks on the record as a result.

Penultimate song, and pseudo-title track, Leaden Light Her Coils is another lengthier song that makes use of its extended running time to fill its near fourteen minute length with plenty of great and eclectic music. starting with a great piano section that builds anticipation, it gradually begins to add elements into its sound, with the guitars and drums creeping into the mix about a minute into the track, whilst not dominating the sound, allowing the opening part of the music to carry the song, and shaping itself around it accordingly. The vocals work in a very similar manner, although they are definitely more prominent in this song than they were in the last one, adding a sludgy, dirty edge to the angelic sound of the keyboards, which works as an excellent contrast. Guy Moore‘s compositions and variation in the different tones he utilises with his keyboards really helps to carry this song, and inject plenty of diverse sounds into the mix, from pianos to a more organ based sound. The vocals really come into their own as well, eschewing the gruff gutturals at certain points in favour of more acerbic higher vocals that still maintain an element of the gutturals, whilst bordering on black metal. The music keeps to a dirge-like pace, and manages to provide a great atmosphere in the background to the brilliant keys and vocal passages, with only a few, well placed lead guitar flourishes making an appearance in the songs closing minutes. This is an exercise in keeping a long track engaging all the way through, and it proves to be an excellent penultimate offering for this album.

2.12.14, the final song on the album, is also the shortest, and acts as a small piece of music to bring Leaden Light to a close. Built around ambient keyboards, clean guitars and slow, steady drums, it’s one last burst of great atmosphere which offers a lot of sparse, but well used, music that really helps to create an epic sound, tinged with melancholy and darkness. There are also a few, brief vocals which only really serve to add a bit of depth to the sound, but for the most part, this song is instrumental, and all the better for it. It’s a brilliant way for ILLIMITABLE DOLOR to close an equally brilliant album.

Although Leaden Light takes its influences from older, more established death/doom acts, it doesn’t stray into the realms of parody or outright copying at any point. Part of the reason why ILLIMITABLE DOLOR are so far removed from their idols is the ever present, gargantuan atmosphere that cloaks the sound through each of the five tracks on this record. Every aspect of the music on here is great, from the dense rhythmic approach of the drums, guitars and bass, through to the glorious leads, tar thick vocals and sublime keyboards, with each part of ILLIMITABLE DOLOR‘s music having a significant part to play in their sound. This is the band’s current creative peak, and it will be incredibly interesting to see how ILLIMITABLE DOLOR manage to surpass this masterpiece.

Rating: 8/10

Leaden Light is out now via Transcending Obscurity Records. 

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