The blade cuts both ways on Lijkschouwer‘s sophomore effort, carving through familiar extreme metal territory while revealing something profoundly human beneath. Rotterdam’s cosmic nihilists return with All What Did the Blade Reveal, a 41-minute journey representing not just musical evolution but philosophical transformation since their 2022 debut’s unrelenting despair.
The opening title track immediately signals this shift. G.V.T.’s drums lumber forward with deliberate menace while R.B.’s vocals scrape against the mix like rusted metal on concrete, yet there’s something different here—an undercurrent of defiant hope threading through the suffocating atmosphere. The production, courtesy of Dave and Role at Germany’s Tonmeisterei Studio, gives everything room to breathe while maintaining that essential rawness that keeps extreme metal honest.
“Colours of Woe” shifts the dynamics without losing intensity. The guitar interplay between R.B. and M.D.C. creates layers of dissonance that feel genuinely uncomfortable rather than merely brutal. This isn’t the kind of black metal that relies on speed alone for impact. Instead, Lijkschouwer understand that true heaviness comes from tension, from the spaces between notes as much as the notes themselves. The vocals here switch between guttural despair and shrieked fury, but now there’s something else—a spark of resistance that wasn’t present on Lamentations of Cosmic Absurdity.
Where their debut wallowed in cosmic futility, All What Did the Blade Reveal channels anger into purpose. The band speak of choosing “personal growth and fulfilment” over despair, of finding “power and hope in each other,” and this philosophical pivot permeates every crushing riff. This isn’t music abandoning darkness but rather discovering light within it.
The album’s centrepiece, “Irredeemable,” justifies its nearly nine-minute runtime through careful pacing and emotional complexity. Beginning with sparse, doom-laden passages that recall the band’s sludge influences, it gradually builds toward moments of genuine transcendence. There’s a section around the five-minute mark where everything drops out, creating a brief respite that feels like catching breath before battle rather than surrendering to the void. These moments of restraint demonstrate a maturity that transforms heaviness into something approaching catharsis.
“To Slake All Thirst” finds the band at their most aggressive, with blast beats courtesy of G.V.T. that feel earned rather than obligatory. The tremolo-picked melodies weave through the chaos with a melancholic beauty that recalls Deafheaven’s more contemplative moments, though Lijkschouwer’s vision remains decidedly more grounded in earthly struggle. There’s something genuinely powerful about how the band now balances melody with brutality, creating music that acknowledges suffering while refusing to be consumed by it.
“Carving the Augury” represents perhaps the album’s most successful synthesis of the band’s various influences and their evolved worldview. Death metal precision meets black metal atmosphere while sludge-inspired passages provide necessary breathing room. The song structure feels organic rather than formulaic, with each section flowing naturally into the next like stages of grief processed and transformed. G.V.T.’s vocal contributions here add another layer of texture, creating a sense of multiple voices united in purpose rather than crying out in isolation.
The closing “Querencia” provides the album’s most explicit statement of its central theme. The title, referring to a place of safety and belonging, no longer seems at odds with extreme metal’s typically nihilistic worldview. Instead, the song explores how such refuge might be found or created even within darkness. Passages of relative calm aren’t interrupted by trauma but rather strengthened by the knowledge that brutality exists.
Production-wise, the album benefits from a cleaner approach than many extreme metal releases without sacrificing essential grit. Every instrument occupies its own space in the mix, allowing the compositions’ emotional complexity to emerge clearly. R.D.B.’s bass work, in particular, provides crucial foundation that anchors the band’s heaviest moments while supporting their more introspective passages.
The band describe this album as “a declaration of war and a love letter concurrently,” and this duality defines its most successful moments. Where All What Did the Blade Reveal occasionally stumbles is when it leans too heavily toward either extreme. The purely aggressive passages can feel disconnected from the album’s hopeful core, while moments of respite sometimes interrupt rather than enhance the overall flow.
Yet these minor quibbles fade against the album’s larger achievement. Lijkschouwer have managed something genuinely rare in extreme metal: evolution without abandonment of core identity. The darkness that defined Lamentations of Cosmic Absurdity remains, but it’s now channelled toward connection rather than isolation, resistance rather than resignation.
The thematic transformation deserves particular recognition. The band’s movement from cosmic nihilism toward “human connection, spirit, and empathy” never feels forced or artificial. These aren’t philosophical concepts grafted onto heavy music for intellectual credibility; they emerge naturally from music that has processed genuine darkness and found something worth fighting for within it.
All What Did the Blade Reveal succeeds as both a worthy follow-up to Lamentations of Cosmic Absurdity and a statement of profound artistic growth. While it operates within established extreme metal boundaries, it does so with intelligence, emotional honesty, and a sense of purpose that elevates the material beyond genre exercise. For listeners drawn to the intersection of black metal, death metal, and sludge, this album offers rewards that reveal themselves gradually, like hope discovered in unexpected places.
The blade reveals enough to justify attention from anyone seeking extreme metal with both crushing weight and emotional depth. More importantly, Lijkschouwer have crafted something that proves darkness and hope need not be mutually exclusive. They’ve chosen to make music that acknowledges suffering while refusing to surrender to it. That choice resonates through every crushing riff and tortured vocal, making All What Did the Blade Reveal feel both timely and necessary.
All What Did the Blade Reveal is out now.
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