Netherlands-based caustic industrial two-piece All Are to Return will release a new audio/visual EP, Līmen, sometime in the near future. The persistently harsh outfit, which as ever is comprised solely of F and N, last Spring made the dark offering of AATR III (review here) and with it conjured a litany of bodily and/or existential terrors, and the upcoming four-tracker is consistent in that regard while pivoting to an even noisier approach. That is to say, while not lacking in the first place for cinematic foreboding or an aurally bleak cast, All Are to Return are upping the stakes of their already punishing methodology.

What does this mean for the listener? A new litmus in Līmen? I mean, maybe. It likely depends on how much time you’ve spent embroiled in harsh noise and drone. “The Augur,” the video for which premieres below with a kind of narrative playing out in text for lyrics that aren’t there — for something so extreme in its purposes generally, it’s hard not to think of the words as part of a manifesto — is emblematic of the intention behind what follows it on the mercifully brief outing (not taking the piss; these are cruel sounds and it’s not an accident; if it was pleasant it would be a different kind of art), as “Sujet Maudite” comes to howl before dropping to silence amid suitably anti-capitalist treatise, “The Veil” ties in notions of the physical self while droning lower and more primal, and “That Which Listens” reminds in rhythmic minimalism of the connections underlying existence.

The centaur question — I was trying to write “central” there, but I acquiesce to autocorrect based on the image of slaying the centaur of one’s own ignorance — is whether or not you can hang with All Are to Return as they are here. It’s not the most outwardly furious they’ve ever been, but especially on headphones hypnotized by the slow motion of the video on full screen, Līmen plays out like an arthouse installation more than a collection of songs, and it’s probably best if it’s consumed that way as well. What I’m trying to say is be ready and willing to leave your comfort zone behind because the greater likelihood is All Are to Return are coming from and speaking to a place well outside of it. If you’re up for a challenge, so are they.

And no, three minutes of harsh noise ambience probably isn’t going to deconstruct your consciousness, but it does expand the idea of what the band’s songs can do, is heavy in ways beyond volume and, in combination with the video/text, finds a depth of impression generally reserved for the psychedelic. Does that make Līmen a kind of nightmare machine psych? I don’t have a better thing to call it, save perhaps for “hellish.”

“The Augur” premieres below. Please enjoy:

All Are to Return, “The Augur” video premiere

All Are To Return līmen is an AV-release consisting of 4 videos with an interconnected narrative, of which The Augur is the first chapter.

Tracklisting:
1. The Augur
2. Sujet Maudite
3. The Veil
4. That Which Listens

Credits:
Music, video and narrative by All Are To Return.

All Are to Return, III (2024)

All Are to Return on Bandcamp

All Are to Return on Soundcloud

All Are to Return website

Tartarus Records store

Tags: All Are to Return, All Are to Return Līmen, Limen, Tartarus Records, The Netherlands, Utrecht

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 23rd, 2025 at 7:03 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater, Duuude, Tapes!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.