Boundaries // Death Is Little More
Boundaries is on absolute fire. This will easily be album of the year for quite a few people. It’s only April so I won’t give it the crown yet, but it will certainly be top 5 (at the very least) for me at the end of the year.
And that is a huge deal because Boundaries has dominated my album of the year lists in recent years – they placed second in both 2020 and 2022. With another top 5 placement for the third time in a row, they will have accomplished an incredible feat.
Bands often have strong back to back albums, but they lose their way when they get to their third. They get distracted, or they get too big, or they change their sound. One way or another, the third album curse has claimed many victims. But instead of succumbing to the curse, Boundaries released their best album yet.
‘Your Receding Warmth’ will always have a special place in my heart because it introduced me to the band, but its straightforward nature is a little more elementary than their later releases. ‘Burying Brightness’ had some extremely strong songs and a compelling atmosphere, but a few of its more experimental moments missed the mark.
‘Death Is Little More’ elevates Boundaries to a new level by matching its weighty lyrics with dark, crushing instrumentals. The album’s title is inspired by Dante’s Inferno, a story about Dante’s journey through the nine circles of hell.
Given the inspiration, you might expect this to be a concept album, however, ‘Death Is Little More’ is not particularly tied to Dante’s story or hell. The main connection I’ve found is in the concept of suffering.
Boundaries’ lyrics are filled with an unbelievable amount of self-hatred, hopelessness, and sacrifice. Vocalist Matt McDougal engages in a lot of introspection, and he does not like what he sees. He’s plagued by crippling failure, constantly disappointed by his inability to live up to others’ expectations, and drowned in feelings of inadequacy. He’s a victim that is constantly done wrong by others. The torment he faces seems akin to the suffering of those in Dante’s nine circles of hell.
But similar to Dante’s story, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. This is most clearly acknowledged in “Blame’s Burden” where Matt cathartically screams “I’m better than I’ve ever been and I won’t pretend that I’m not.” The moment is accompanied by upbeat electronic synths, which is completely out of character for Boundaries, but underscores Matt’s rare confession.
And it helps highlight an underlying theme of the album – that complacency in struggle becomes easy when that’s all you know, and trying to improve your life is an even harder battle than simply existing. While Matt often seems powerless to change his fate, there are a few moments of strength. Most notably, “Blood Soaked Salvation” is essentially a power trip fantasy that involves vengeance against God.
And while Matt chronicles the suffering he’s experienced at the hands of others, “Scars On A Soul” contains a valuable lesson. “We’ve done nothing to change the course, so we’ve been here before.” In other words, change only happens when a change is made, and we are responsible for making those changes ourselves.
One of my favorite songs is “Easily Erased.” The singing genuinely surprised me. Hearing it the first time was the closest to a “jaw drop” moment I’ve had in a long time. Boundaries did a great job adding small, tasteful sections of clean singing. Each time was as impactful as it was unexpected.
Another highlight is the end of “Darkness Shared” and the entirety of “Like Petals From A Stem.” I thought the end of “The Tower” from Boundaries’ last album was as heavy as they could get, but they’ve blown that out of the water here. Utter chaos and malice.
The last thing I’ll mention is how ridiculously full this album is. There are almost no breaks, interludes, spoken word sections, outros, or anything to slow the band’s constant march forward. Something is always happening, always ramping up.
Good luck to the other bands releasing albums this year – this will be a tough one to beat. And good luck to Boundaries as they continue their career and try to build on this. It’ll be tough to get better than this.
