Each day of December this year, I’m highlighting one of my favourite albums of 2024. Counting down the list, we start with #31 on December 1st and go all the way down until we’ve reached #1 on December 31st. Today, #5 on my Album of the Year list: Belmont – ‘Liminal’.

For this release, we have to kick it back to October 15th 2023, back when I highlighted Belmont’s first single ahead of their third full-length ‘Liminal’ on this website. I dubbed ‘SSX Trickmont’ “(..) drum and bass meets melodic hardcore”, something I still stand by to this day. But with the release of an additional 11 just as hyperactive easycore songs in April of this year, Belmont managed to release an album full of some of the weirdest and most entertaining conundrums of the entire year.

Truth be told, ‘Liminal’ is the first proper Belmont album I’ve ever listened to. Other than the occasional single, I haven’t tuned in frequently enough to speak wisely on the Illinois based band’s history, who started off as a high school pop-punk band. Diving a bit deeper into this album tells me Belmont is an ever evolving group who were getting praised for their earlier, more straightforward work, while being loathed by some for incorporating trap and country influences into their later releases. One listen at ‘Liminal’ gives me quite the understanding of these mixed opinions. Pinning down Belmont seems to be particularly tricky, given that this album alone bounces up and down like a modified pogo stick launching you straight into the stratosphere and back.

I recently described this album as ‘ADHD music’: not a second on ‘Liminal’ is left unused by its creators. Praise goes out to Taz Johnson’s high paced and sometimes rap-like vocals on top of the immaculately spellbinding drums by Brian Lada, finished off with a shiny coat applied through Jason Inguagiato’s frenzied riffing. There just isn’t a single dull moment on this album which makes for an extremely lively and transformative record. The amount of joy it projects (although Johnson’s lyrics reveal he doesn’t always see life through rose-coloured glasses) is contagious to say the least. Songs like ‘SSX Trickmont’ and ‘Liminal’ very well showcase exactly this insanely energetic style. Together with ‘All Bite’ and ’N2’, those songs make for my absolute favourites off of this album and even though some songs tend to get a bit repetitive at times, it manages to continuously feel like you’re listening to something brand new. Belmont’s ’Liminal’ sounds like a band trying out some random sh*t they thought of on a wild night out and much to everyone’s surprise, they absolutely nailed the execution. I’m totally digging this ridiculousness and can’t wait to hear what other nonsense this band has in store for us.