Three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and hack writers adding their own third qualifier to the original saying. And for this hack writer, one possibility for that third qualifier is that Transcending Obscurity Records is going to drop at least one bizarre metal album that I will absolutely love yearly. Sometimes it’ll be an album from a band that is just completely off the wall in their approach, and other times it’ll be one that blends a diverse palette of styles into something marvelous. We’re around halfway through 2025, and friends, it looks like that album has finally arrived with Floating‘s Hesitating Lights.
Sweden’s Floating isn’t a name that was totally unfamiliar to me, having checked out their debut The Waves Have Teeth back in 2022, but I’ll admit that I forgot about them in the tide of other great albums that surrounded that release. Hesitating Lights is not going to suffer any such fate. What Floating have done here is remarkable, stitching together a disparate patchwork of styles (namely death metal, post-punk, and prog) in a way that feels shockingly natural and seamless. It’s a true testament to the band’s creativity that they can describe their album as being for fans of both Demilich and Siouxsie and the Banshees, and it makes total sense.
From the first moments of “I Reached the Mew”, where effects-laden clean guitars emerge from the haze followed by blasting drums and charging riffs, Floating is sure footed in their flowing songwriting and style blending. That opening track careens through ideas in a flowing, dreamlike manner that can be furious or haunting at any given moment, or more often both. The specific balance of styles varies from song to song, assuring a sense of surprise and variety that persists across Hesitating Lights, but every song takes advantage of Floating‘s full tool kit.
To wit, the second track “Grave Dog” is one of the album’s most aggressive songs, kicking off with a knotty, mind-bending death metal riff interrupted intermittently by a descending tremolo riff, but it still ends up on a dancey set of chords one would expect more from a band like The Chameleons. “Cough Choir”, by comparison, pairs a more straightforward punk energy replete with choppy chords and d-beats with an eerie lead and some more syncopated, complex riffs and drumming before a spooky clean bridge. By the time the dissonant, Voivod-esque chords emerge on “Exit Bag Song”, one can’t help but just be glad to be along for the ride while Floating never once falters in quality.
It can’t be understated how sticky and tangible the creepy atmosphere of Hesitating Lights is, and the fact that Floating manages a cohesive vibe across the whole album is just delightful. Be it the gloomy guitar and synth intro of “Hesitating Lights – Harmless Fires”, the churning riffs within “Still Dark Enough”, or the more blackened edge that emerges in the faster moments of “The Wrong Body”, nothing ever feels too outlandish to derail the album’s mood. Floating only lifts the veil for a shockingly uplifting set of progressions towards the end of “The Waking”, and it leaves the album to close out on an emotional high that feels completely earned.
For the inherent darkness of every style Floating utilizes, and the commitment to nary a moment of clean vocals (everything here is an old school caustic growl or a more anguished roar), I’ll still admit that Hesitating Lights is a genuinely fun album to listen to. Floating runs through so many ideas with such wild abandon that it’s exhilarating to try to guess where they’ll turn next at any given moment. I haven’t even addressed the fact that Floating is just a duo (Andreas Hörmark and Arvid Sjödin), because every instrument is handled so well that you’d figure it was a full band. The drums are excellent throughout, the basslines are tasteful and melodic, and of course the guitars are excellent whether weaving clean leads or delivering pummeling, alien riffs.
Hesitating Lights is likewise spot-on in presentation, starting with that striking cover art with its smudgy monochrome yellow look. The production was one aspect that took a moment for me to wrap my head around, given it doesn’t give as much weight to the guitars as one might expect from a death metal album nowadays. It’s a more distinctly old-school production job though, and it gives the bass plenty of breathing room while making the jumps from post-punk to death metal feel much less jarring than a more modern production would have. A temporary stumbling block at worst, and honestly, it’s exactly what’s needed for Floating‘s sound.
Earlier this year, I figured Messa‘s The Spin would easily end up being my favorite album to blend metal and post-punk for 2025, but Hesitating Lights has made that decision a whole lot trickier. Floating hits a masterful combination of ugly death metal and emotive post-punk here, and as much as I love both those genres separately, Floating has crafted a genuine match made in heaven (or maybe hell). Dark, dreary, and yet truly a joy to listen to, Hesitating Lights is an absolute blast well worth a try for anyone who likes their music gloomy, weird, and emotionally resonant.
