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LIMINAL SPIRIT Tells Phillip Hastings’ Story Through the Eyes of Others on New Album
Phillip’s shadow reaches new lives
Milwaukee-based avant-garde cinematic doom project LIMINAL SPIRIT will expand the story established on its previous release "Unwell" with its new album "Forfeiture Hymns", due out November 6. Composer and multi-instrumentalist Jerry Hauppa shifts the focus away from the central character, Phillip Hastings, instead telling the stories of those whose lives were permanently altered by him.
"Forfeiture Hymns" broadens the narrative of "Unwell", which chronicled Phillip Hastings’ final days in a nursing home, by tracing the story back to his birth. Each track focuses on a different character who is driven to suicide following an encounter with Phillip. In doing so, the album develops an expansive concept centered on influence, guilt, abuse, obsession, and the consequences individual actions leave in their wake.
Hauppa explains that developing each character’s motivations directly influenced the melodic structures of the compositions. The approach means the songs are not merely separate chapters of the same story, but distinct musical identities shaped around the characters they portray. Recurring motifs connect the individual tracks while also establishing a narrative relationship with previous LIMINAL SPIRIT releases.
The project’s musical foundation combines Hauppa’s melodic sensibilities, developed through his work in extreme metal, with microtonal guitar, cinematic doom, industrial, and drone elements. "Forfeiture Hymns" also employs a more extreme musical language informed by death metal, electronic textures, and psychological storytelling. With the new recording, Hauppa expands on the drone-based atmospheres developed in his earlier work while aiming to make the music itself carry the narrative.
The album’s first single, 'The Initiate', offers a direct example of this approach. The track follows Tommy Pearson, a boy desperate to join a group of children led by Phillip. Beginning with lighter melodies reminiscent of a children’s playground, the song grows faster and more chaotic as Tommy seeks help for his wounds and struggles for acceptance from the group.
'The Initiate' is available to stream via its premiere page at Doomed & Stoned.
"Forfeiture Hymns" comprises 11 tracks, with the concept’s chronological structure reflected in the tracklist. Beginning with 'A Mother’s Instinct', 'Unwanted', and 'The Initiate', the narrative unfolds through the deaths of different characters, reaching 2025 with 'The Parting Glass' and 2026 with 'Four'. The structure demonstrates that the album is not simply a continuation of "Unwell", but a reconstruction of the same narrative universe through the perspectives of different characters.
Jerry Hauppa handled all songwriting, performances, and production on the album. He also mixed the record, while mastering was handled by Jeff Wojtysiak. The album artwork was created by James Becker. On this recording, LIMINAL SPIRIT uses kite guitar, fretless guitar, synth, vocoder, sampling, and drum programming.
"Forfeiture Hymns" is available for pre-order through LIMINAL SPIRIT’s Bandcamp page. The album will be released on November 6.