Review Summary: cosmic shift sideways
Four years ago, Holy Fawn introduced themselves with the delicate ambience of ‘Dark Stone’,
Death Spells’ phenomenal opener. Now, ‘Hexsewn’ fulfils the role of opening the band’s second full length, and does so with similarly soothing tones. However, where ‘Dark Stone’ juxtaposes its tranquillity with distorted walls of sound within thirty seconds,
Dimensional Bleed’s first moments opt to breathe rather than choke. The opening cut fades out without establishing a distinguishable structure: instead, it dissolves textures of discomfort and quiet into an abstract structure of itself.
It's an excellent blueprint for
Dimensional Bleed, one of the year's most aptly titled albums. Rather than focusing on Holy Fawn's moments of crushing intensity or elaborating upon the band's knack for explicit prettiness, the record shifts sideways. Lead single 'Death is a Relief' incorporates gorgeous sparkles and blackgaze-tinged sections alike, yet, there is a sense of calm to the song that feels oddly disorienting and deceptive. Detached synths introduce 'Death is a Relief'; distorted acoustic guitars signal its dissolution, shaping an effective juxtaposition. On the one hand, the album feels organic through its disjointed
bleeds; on the other hand, it consistently roots itself within several realms at once through the incorporation of every element the band seem to have at their disposal.
As such,
Dimensional Bleed is a record that requires patience. While the gazed out post-metal climax of 'Empty Vials' and ferocious three minutes of 'Dimensional Bleed' may be relatively immediate, the album consistently relies on subtleties for its payoffs (or lack thereof). 'Lift Your Head' takes shape through an ethereal swell that underscores its entirety, persistently moving neither forward nor backward. It doesn't build or alter as the song progresses; instead, it functions as a framework for the dense layers Holy Fawn carefully constructs. Similarly, the seven-minute epic 'Sightless' spends a good portion of its runtime basking in quiet, reverb-soaked drum patterns, allowing the song to build until it fully collapses in on itself. This approach requires and, to an extent, demands one's full attention: the grand swell of the track is built around subtleties buried in the excellent mix - constructing a web of textures that eventually culminates in something equally abstract.
As excellent and carefully woven as every moment is,
Dimensional Bleed does suffer slightly from its own nuanced ambitions. While Holy Fawn largely manage to find strength in a constant blurring, the exclusively subtle shifts and textural tweaks of the record fail to concretely define songs as individual entities. This is somewhat double-edged; while the dimensional bleeds of the album affirm its hazy themes and make for an explicitly cohesive experience, it also constructs the 50-minute experience as a somewhat impenetrable one. The exact confines of each song (and, by extension, the album) are unclear; instead, it is clear that Holy Fawn leave every door open.
Thankfully, it can be said that the band are not begging for the music to be
penetrated. Their malleable blend of shoegaze, post rock, electronic, and black metal exists as a large, looming wave to be
experienced.
Dimensional Bleed may not be the monumental statement
Death Spells embodied, but it is certainly capable of engulfing anyone willing to allocate it some dedicated time. Moreover, it reaffirms Holy Fawn's position as one of the most intriguing bands soundtracking the real-time slow-motion apocalypse of [right now].
