Well, we’re back to liminal spaces, a fleeting glimpse of transitory moments of unhinged unease. Passthroughs in a world that seems to have lost all sense of order. 2026 and the year prior have been comparatively full of records talking about it. At least on the RMR zine, they were.1
On Veilburner‘s latest piece, the RMR crew didn’t find anything liminal. On the contrary, this specifically messy record got blacklisted by the RMR Review Desk for a long time. Until somebody here finally picked it up earlier this year. Not that the review improved anything, apart from confirming views already made and hardening preset opinions. A leopard won’t change its spots. Usually. Or will it?
And indeed. The liminal sense gets confirmation. After all, the somewhat philosophical title All that Glimmers is Gloam speaks about exactly that. Gloam, the luminescence just before the day moves into darkness’ embrace. But that’s also where philosophy ends, and dark, distorted dissonance starts. True, the vocals still mostly consist of crazed monologues, gritty snarls, and some truly animalistic grunts thrown in for good measure. But the disjointed riffing yet again regurgitates some true gems of Axeman’s Best. Not on all fronts, mind you. Endlessly repeating some weird lick won’t improve quality, nor will it invoke that sense of triumph.
The often overly abundant displays of fractured samples and soundbites, the ones garnished with those disjointed weird grinding howls, won’t be of a ton of help in reaching the lofty heights where great records dwell (Phænomena Obscura, for instance). But there’s also fatigue-inducing non-action, akin to boredom center. To illustrate, Séance to Spectre trundles along listlessly while trying to save its scrawny bacon with some melodics towards the end. And that kind of botched progression just will not do.
That said, All that Glimmers is Gloam‘s songsmithing quality really took a leap forward. Gone are the cosmically unhinged rhythm sections to nowhere. And in comes at least some coherence in dissonance. For example, Dis’ Obedient Woe displays a frugal, doomy melancholy with a remarkable atmospheric glow and a neat, dreamy solo to boot. Of Godslave and Blood Mortar delivers some sanguine desperation on Xanax with a truly stellar guitar lead in the midst of the mayhem to break things up some. And last, but not least, All that Glimmers is Gloam, the title track, finally reaches some sense of melody and coherence. Not that the track is devoid of tumult. But for those with an inbred need for at least some order, that’s the track I would head towards at once. You shouldn’t expect some sweet ‘n’ salty melody, though. There will be no soft crooning for you.
Ultimately, All that Glimmers is Gloam won’t indeed change its spots. The outcome is not as bad as for the previous triumph / tragedy piece, though. But it ain’t triumphant either. And yet again, the similarities to Magnadur‘s pointless meanderings struck us a few times. Only, Veilburner here are scatterbrains on a mission with serious songsmithing skills. Meaning, there is some seeming sense in the chaos. It only makes you wonder what kind of weed they’re smoking when making those records. Put differently, the gloam piece here isn’t making things worse, but it ain’t improving anything in any significant sense either.
The Duality of Decapitation was the only one of Veilburner‘s records that really talked to us. And this revelation will – in all probability – end the coverage of this band over at the RMR Review Desk. We’d continue repeating ourselves, else. Our time on earth is limited, and the devil will give ya no more.
Record Rating: 5/10 | Label: Transcending Obscurity Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 16 October 2026
- Liminal Sky, Pâenil Era, Green Carnation, but also Beriedir in 2025. All addressed it through their music, either directly or indirectly.-↩