When in 2008 I reviewed Beyond The Grave’s EP, ‘Sands of Desolation’, the accompanying blurb had them describing themselves as “The North’s Premier Metal Band”, a pretty challenging statement to somebody who’d been listening to Sabbath and Priest for so many years. With a full length album now on offer, a fair question is are they any closer to securing this self-aggrandising title? Let’s see.
Even without listening to the CD, it was apparent how much care the band had put into ‘The Human Tide’; despite being unsigned and self funding, the CD looked like a professional label supported release, excellently printed, in a full jewel case, the booklet containing complete lyrics and some excellent artwork. This same quality shines through in the sound of the album, which could easily have been the work of a top notch professional studio and engineer in terms of clarity and production values. This is a world away from the garage recordings and swapped TDK tapes of my youth (anyone under 30 may have to look up “TDK tapes” in a history book!).
Opening track, ‘Down Amongst The Dead’ starts with some of the same solid twin guitar riffing that that distinguished their previous release from many other unsigned contemporaries, but with a thrashier sound then before. This was matched up with the alternatively screamed then melodic vocals that seem the norm for so many emerging acts. The quality of the production, however, means that the lyrics aren’t lost, always a bonus in my opinion. This style carries on into the epic 7 minute plus second track, ‘By The Light of s Setting Sun’, the tale of desolation and destruction being punctuated by the sort of classic guitar solos that could easily come from the likes of Iron Maiden with their class and precision. It is in this melding of modern styles with classic NWOBHM and thrash elements that gives the band give themselves an edge.
The band’s fist in face metallic assault surprisingly lets up in the gentle ‘In Memoriam’, a track dominated by string/synth arrangements and acoustic guitar work. Whilst the blatant mid Atlantic vocal twang of the cleaner vocals on this and the opening of following track ‘Dead by December’ did grate with me a little, this change in pace showed the band is willing to try, and more then capable of, different styles and paces.
‘The Human Tide’ builds strongly on the foundations set up by the band’s prior EPs, and shows a continuing evolution and development of skills. If Beyond the Grave continue to grow like this, who knows what heights they could reach?
http://www.beyondthegrave1.com
http://www.myspace.com/beyondthegraveuk
