FLOATING from Sweden are finding increasingly impressive ways to enrich death metal music with progressive and post punk influences. While their previous release turned heads, this new one is far more refined, confident and accomplished. The primary elements have their place in the music with none of it getting dislodged by the dominance of the other and that's where the beauty lies - there's a subtlety, an emotional fragility that comes through in death metal music, which usually sounds too tough and overbearing for the most part. "Hesitating Lights" is a thoughtfully composed, beautifully tempered album of bold, refreshing death metal music, which in these times, is no mean feat.”

The album has eight songs, and “I Reached the Mew” is first. The opening bass lines dance with the energy of an 80’s song, but the riff that follows is a hardened slab of Post Metal. The devastating harsh vocals mix in and give the song an oil on water quality. The Progressive qualities are noteworthy but not overdone. “Grave Dog” has a hypnotic riff that is angled sharply with the vocals, and the song passes through dissonant passages but is sprinkled with their brand of clean, dark melodies. The bass notes seem to dance with abandon, and the sound is quite catchy at times. “Cough Choir” begins with some melody, but descends down into the darkness. The skies churn under the weight of rapidly changing weather, which threatens at times, and releases at others.

“Exit Bag Song” flirts with 80’s music again, especially in the clean lead breaks. They are brief, but that’s the nostalgia I get when I listen to them. But, my, how the tides turn. A thunderhead rolls in on strong winds, and dumps a deluge. “Hesitating Lights/Harmless Flies” begins with dark electronics, and a boatload of tension…the kind that makes your feet move and your head on a swivel. At times, however, it sooths…just long enough to reel you in. The constant back and forth is actually unsettling, and it leaves you speechless as to where they might be headed. “Still Dark Enough” is aptly titled, because it hangs on the precipice of a plunge that you would not survive. Just when you feel you can’t take any more of the world and lift your feet to jump, the clean melodies ground you once again.

“The Wrong Body” feels more like traditional Death Metal to me, but of course, with the band’s signature and intelligent twists. “The Waking” is the final offering, and for me, it feels like it is running towards something. The guitars are hasty at times, although the vocals remain smooth. Someone pulls the emergency brake after the half-way mark, but the careener doesn’t slow. The ending is hypnotic.  Built on a death metal foundation that’s both precise and primal, the record refuses to remain in one form for long. Instead, it stretches into progressive terrain, dives into melodic undercurrents, and thrives on one core ingredient: tension…the kind that simmers, builds, and transforms. The listener is never allowed to fully settle. Every moment begs the question: what’s coming next? A thinking person’s apocalypse.