ALBUM REVIEW: Liminal Rite – Kardashev

Way back in the mists of 2020, an unsigned, self-styled ‘deathgaze’ band released an EP that caused quite the stir and caught the attention of Metal Blade Records through their innovative blend of deathcore, shoegaze, post-metal, ambience and more. That band is KARDASHEV and the EP was The Baring Of Shadows. Two years on, they’re set to release their second full-length entitled Liminal Rite, one that corrects its predecessor’s mistake – chiefly, not being long enough. 

KARDASHEV work best when they have the space to let their narrative and emotions unfurl, both of which Liminal Rite does in spades. A conceptual album, it tells a story, linked together through drummer Sean Lang’s spoken word segments, of a man they simply refer to as The Lost Man, whose dementia is advancing as he revisits scenes and locations from his childhood as a trip down memory lane. It’s not a pleasant trip, however; Liminal Rite’s core themes are of nostalgia, and how rose-tinted glasses cover or repress the unpleasant memories and leave us with inaccurate recollections of the past. 

These themes aren’t just explored through the spoken word. They permeate every fibre of this remarkable album, with the band having said they wrote primarily from emotion and let the rest follow from there. The Approaching Of Atonement is a haunting introductory section, Lang’s spoken word backed by soft orchestration before Silvered Shadows opens the album proper with a storm of blastbeats. Its eight minutes fly by, offering a neat encapsulation of the record’s sonic pastures as vocalist Mark Garrett employs every vocal texture he has. From soft croons, to post-hardcore barks, black metal rasps, death metal roars and soaring, yearning melodies, he’s an enthralling presence throughout not just the song but the entire album. 

It’s not just vocally where KARDASHEV shine; the aforementioned Silvered Shadows, as well as Apparitions In Candlelight, meld blackened flourishes of tremolo riffing and blastbeats to cavernous death metal before slower, shoegaze-flecked passages take over. Lavender Calligraphy, for instance, opens with ambience, and its own blending of shoegaze guitar motifs with Garrett’s layered vocals, both cavernous roars and higher shrieks, is intensely stirring. 

There’s also a masterful use of pauses and interludes; Dissever and The Blinding Threshold bookend Lavender Calligraphy and precede the monolithic Compost Grave-Song, allowing the narrative to further unfold as well as some respite, if not from the heavy themes then at least from the heavier music to allow those themes to further sink their hooks in. 

It’s rare to find an album this nuanced and unique, but from its opening moments Liminal Rite is nothing short of spellbinding. Throughout its hour runtime, the band not only define their chosen moniker of deathgaze but by the end of it they’re pushing the boundaries even further, with saxophone seeping through the near-12-minute closing epic Beyond The Passage Of Embers. This is a breathtaking, emotional journey through pain, loss, nostalgia and though it ultimately finds no resolution – at least not a happy one – it imparts its message tactfully, plants it deeply and truly leaves its mark. 

Rating: 9/10

Liminal Rite is out now via Metal Blade Records.

Follow KARDASHEV on their website.