Today, Sculptured announce the release of the first single off their long-awaited forthcoming album, The Liminal Phase, scheduled for release on August 27 via BMG.

The first track and lyric video, "The Ordeal Of Undecidability", offers multiple textures atop a writhing bed of pulsating drums, deceptive drone-chugging guitar and a galloping chorus culminating in a breathtaking cello arrangement by acclaimed cellist and composer Jo Quail (Mono, My Dying Bride).

Stream the single here, and watch the lyric video below.

The 25-year history of Sculptured’s visionary approach to progressive heaviness is the story of guitarist/vocalist Don Anderson’s lifelong musical odyssey.

Formed in the mid ’90s during Anderson’s teen years, early Sculptured songs took their inspiration from the progressive and melodic nature of Chuck Schuldiner’s ever-evolving ideas, after Anderson heard Death’s 1991 record, Human. By 1996, Anderson was tracking his own compositions. Three recorded songs surfaced on that year’s Fulfillment in Tragedy demo tape, and some of that material also landed on Sculptured’s debut full-length album, The Spear Of The Lily Is Aureoled (1998). After being picked up for a CD and cassette run by Polish record label Mad Lion, The Spear of the Lily is Aureoled found a home in the U.S. with The End Records, the label that would become Sculptured’s long term partner. In the late ‘90s, Anderson began working with John Haughm and Jason Walton in Agalloch, and both Agalloch’s Pale Folklore and Sculptured’s sophomore record, Apollo Ends, benefitted from the trio’s collaboration. Apollo Ends also saw the return of Spear vocalist Brian Yager and trumpet player Burke Harris.

After these two albums, Sculptured had voice and purpose, but Agalloch’s more meditative style began to receive more attention from the metal community and Anderson gave less of his attention to Sculptured. It would be years before Anderson was ready to record his next fleshed out statement, the atonal and rather darker Embodiment. The record retained Walton on bass, and the band was now joined by vocalist Tom Walling, Estradasphere drummer Dave Murray and Winds/Age of Silence keyboardist Andy Winter. Their performances lend Embodiment a brand new air, both gutsier and stranger than earlier Sculptured records.

Since 2008, Sculptured has been largely silent, skulking in the deep shadows of Anderson’s other work in Agalloch and Khôrada. Now, more than a decade later, Sculptured returns in force with The Liminal Phase, which truly feels like a culmination of the experience that the current band have developed in their many years as working musicians. The songs’ complexity has become stealthier, with rhythmic and tonal elements blending into subtle gradations of color and concept. “The new one is incredibly melodic and accessible,” Anderson says. “It actually sounds like a record that might sit between [Spear and Apollo].” Anderson, along with bassist Jason Walton (Agalloch, Snares of Sixes) and keyboardist Andy Winter (Winds, Age of Silence) are joined by drummer Martti Hill (Barrowlands) and guitarist/vocalist Marius Sjøli (Fauna Timbre) to create music that fits neatly into the Sculptured tradition while somehow feeling more naturally cohesive, more comfortable in its own idiosyncratic skin.

Fast forward to 2021 and The Liminal Phase acts as a bold continuation of Anderson’s vision for Sculptured, as well as a reintroduction to the wonders the band has to offer to fans both old and new.

Pre-order the digital album here, pre-order the vinyl here.

Tracklisting:

"The Ordeal Of Undecidability"
"Dead Wall Reveries"
"State Of Exception"
"At The Margins Of Light"
"Only Shame Can Save Us"

"The Ordeal Of Undecidability" lyric video: