Protagonist US Vinyl & CDs

Review: The debut LP from Oakland, California based collective Leaving conjures the spirit of retro, esoteric doom metal yet repurposed for ethereal, melancholic shoegazing. Formed in 2021, and made up of a plethora of seasoned musicians who've previously cut their teeth in the likes of Noothgrush, Amber Asylum, Graves At Sea, Lycus, and Funerary, the group marry the aggressive post-rock shoegaze of modern peers in Nothing and Whirr, with the oppressive meandering doom of Saint Vitus or Reverend Bizarre. Gloomy, lengthy, dirges of nocturnal depravation, unpacking feelings of isolation, desolation and the looming presence of shadows within our own psyche; a towering debut of cavernous composition, refracted riffage and sonic malaise.

Review: The highly anticipated debut full-length from Oakland, California esoteric doomgazers Leaving melds classic psychedelic proto-doom metal with the swelling bombast and mercurial pace of post-rock and shoegaze. Since forming in 2021, the collective made up of seasoned veterans in their own realms from acts such as Graves At Sea, Lycus, Noothgrush, Amber Asylum and Funerary, have been hard at work crafting the type of menacing melancholy popularised by modern grungegaze peers in Whirr, Cloakroom or Nothing, yet fused to the blues-laden macabre retro doom of Reverend Bizarre and Saint Vitus. Delving into harrowing moments of desolation and the war with the darkness within ourselves, emboldened by meandering, lengthy dirges that offer shimmering sonics and triumphant crescendos both warming and oppressive, Liminal is the type of insidious opus that requires repeat attentive listens before utterly revealing itself.