Review Summary: The symphonic metal, star making company produces the next hit album for the popular band named Beyond The Black.
Symphonic metal with pop hooks; it’s a marriage that is unending, and fruitful as ever. Beyond The Black aren’t seeking to change the industry, they follow in the footsteps of bands like Ad Infinitum and Within Temptation. Welcome to the latest mainstream symphonic metal band with a great female singer. If you’re a sucker for this kind of music, there’s not much that will turn you away from this.
Unfortunately, outside of the stellar vocal performance and handful of memorable songs, this self-titled album is easily blocked out. The first four tracks are a solid frontal showcase, but afterwards the album is very repetitive. Songs are mostly derivative of the first four tracks, maybe slightly different, but the melody work becomes quite similar. The choruses especially smack as interchangeable. Songs are effective and mostly enjoyable, so why revitalize the formula am I right? Perhaps because it turns into stale bread.
Expect some average riffs when you enter, and a worse growler. The harsh vocals are of the Leaves’ Eyes or Sirenia variety, so basically, they have no variety. The lack of heavy riffs mixed with poor growls is not very metal, and I hate weak coffee. Getting heavy is not this band’s strong suit, but there are other contingencies in place. In fact, some of the acoustic ditties are quite interesting. For every weak part, there is another flavourful segment to enjoy. There’s a host of vocal hooks here that amuse and bring you on for a jolly ride. The one that begins the album is odd, but thank god the album gets better. Free Me, for example, is a gorgeous song and a nice change of pace from the otherwise large failure to make emotionally charged songs. I especially enjoyed the chorus for Winter Is Coming, a great song for Jennifer Haven’s powerful voice.
As uncreative as this album is, it’s pretty fun. Jennifer’s singing style doesn’t get tiresome, and the harsh vocals don’t ruin songs at all. The songs are catchy and slick, and never difficult to listen to. What ultimately sinks the album is its inability to utilize its metal and symphonic fronts powerfully. The symphonic effort strikes as fitting for a cheesy indie B movie, but it cannot compete with big names. The album could’ve used more of the dynamism found in the song Raise Your Heard. This is absolutely a solid album, but I’m expecting the upcoming Ad Infinitum album to blow this one away.
