Floating are the Swedish progressive death metal duo of Arvid Sjödin (guitars/synths/vocals) and Andreas Hörmark (bass/synths/programming), both formerly of disbanded like-minded quartet Morbid Illusion. The two Uppsala musicians formed Floating in 2021 after working together and separately with krauty synthpop projects (one of which being the Bandcamp collaboration Träskfeber), seeking to return to heavy music with their newfound non-metal ideas. Floating's unorthodox style is inspired by straightforward death metal such as Autopsy, Cannibal Corpse and Incantation, its weirder offspring in Imperial Triumphant, Portal and Morbus Chron, and goth/post-punk acts like the Chameleons, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cure.
Influenced by the films of Ingmar Bergman and Robert Eggers and the dreariness of Sweden in fall, Floating made their debut with 2022's digitally self-released The Waves Have Teeth, issued two months later by Spirit Coffin Publishing on limited edition CD and cassette. The duo signed to Transcending Obscurity Records in late 2024, with their sophomore album, Hesitating Lights, arriving the following year, demonstrating a maturation of their fusion of grimy "old school death metal" and post-punk's clean guitar tones and paranoiac basswork.
Floating - Hesitating Lights (2025) (MP3 320kbps)
1.I Reached the Mew 05:05
2.Grave Dog 04:02
3.Cough Choir 04:10
4.Exit Bag Song 03:32
5.Hesitating Lights / Harmless Fires 06:12
6.Still Dark Enough 04:28
7.The Wrong Body 02:58
8.The Waking 04:54
Released July 11, 2025
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. Moreover, these unconventional influences aren't copy-pasted or arbitrarily introduced to heavy music; they're carefully gauged, treated and woven together in parts where the well-trodden death metal music would come alive. As a result, listening to this album is an absolute delight. It's fascinating to see how they've made sure that each of the songs stand out and that there's no fixed pattern that might just render their music predictable. "Hesitating Lights" is a thoughtfully composed, beautifully tempered album of bold, refreshing death metal music, which in these times, is no mean feat.
BAND
Arvid Sjödin - Guitars, vocals, synthesizers
Andreas Hörmark - Bass, synthesizers, programming
/ XBTT (1) by Dejavu
