Beyond Within
Eternal Pestilence
7.3
Synopsis:
A very promising album of melodic black/death metal, with just a hint of ‘core...
Review:
Opening with arguably one of THE heaviest bass drops I’ve ever heard - to start the song “Infinite....”, Canada’s Beyond Within, got my attention early, and managed to keep it for the duration of their competent but slightly indecisive third record.
I’m hearing a whole plethora of influences on Eternal Pestilence, and that is what keeps it slightly frustrating, as I can’t determine if the band is trying to play a melodic form of black metal a la Epoch of Unlight (i.e “Condemned to Suffer”, “Black Future”), due to the blackened rasps of Todd Pidgeon and busy guitar work, or a sort of Dead Blue Sky/End it All, synth laced form of blackened metalcore due to some breakdowns and the usual injection of deep death metal bellows and dual European canters and solos (i.e. “Scraping at the Boundaries of Existence”, “Through the Gates”, “Vile”). Either way, Eternal Pestilence is an enjoyable listen.
Whatever style you decide Beyond Within play, they play it well and with conviction, even if without too much originality. The production is solid and the song writing is varied and interesting, and the synths of Daren Favot (no longer in the band), mange to keep the record slight left of metalcore, with a sweeping early Cradle of Filth/Dimmu Borgir-ish presence (“River of Hate”) and some solid riffing and structures, regardless of the genre you force them into, as demonstrated by “The End I Become Death”, which could be plugged into a Norther/Children of Bodom category if you pushed hard enough. The production is a little drum heavy, but otherwise, sounds fine as the piece of the puzzle that presents Beyond Within’s sound to the listener with the same sort of “what genre is this?” conundrum.
Closing with yet another speaker destroying bass drop for “Perception....”, I end up really enjoying this effort just for what it is, regardless of genre. I think some of you should too...
Another nice find I wasn’t expecting and I’m happy to recommend it to you all.
