Reviews
2006-12-24
Melodic death metal may have been created in Sweden in the late 90's, but it seems that some American and Canadian bands have managed to grasp the right elements and have created some worthy additions to the genre.
One such is Canada's Beyond Within, formed in 2002 and with two full length releases prior to this, they have created quite a well made and adult sounding melodic death metal album here, with the right elements of death growls intertwined with melodic guitar riffs and strong double-bass drumming.
It sure sounds like the real thing, the guys can write a track and have some really memorable riffs in here, but they have some problems though. The sound isn’t bad, but I didn’t like the way the guitars sound, a bit low on the mix, without the proper bite to them, the drums sound ok but could’ve also been raised a notch in the mix.
Musically there's little to criticize here, though most of songs have little separate character, they all turn in a strong melodic death performance, and the vocals are among the band's strong points, moving from mid-range to lower growls.
Some songs work better than others, "The End I Become Death" has a stronger, almost folki keyboard addition, with a strong midsection break and a good guitar lead. "Scraping At The Boundaries Of Existence" has strong Iron Maiden-ish riffs, and a good groove.
Not the best these guys can do, it's still a very solid release, with a better sound and some more characterization of the songs this can be much better.
Alon Miasnikov
