Review Summary: Just as mesmerising as the full album, Behold (Instrumental) is well worth checking out.
My Epic’s
Behold is an astounding masterpiece that has been getting a lot of mileage from me this year. I’ve always regarded the band’s third album to be their greatest achievement to date, but I’ll concede that while I thoroughly enjoyed the post-rock peregrination at the time, I took it all in at face value – overlooking the rich, profoundly poignant theological lyricism, and even ambivalently skirting over the dense music with no real desire to peel back the many layers the instrumental work provided; I merely listened to it a bunch of times and then moved on to other things, forgetting about the band for many years. The band released a few EPs in between the 11-year-gap, but it wasn’t until earlier this year I discovered My Epic had released their first LP since
Behold in 2024, making me check out
Loriella and subsequently going back to
Behold to see how it had held up over time. Just over a decade can do a lot to a person and with a very different outlook on the world to how I saw it in 2013 – and with some emotional scarring from life’s many lessons to show for it – the returning experience was spellbinding. Simply put –
Behold is an intricately crafted magnum opus that gives back as much as you put into it. The core strength of the album comes from its powerfully genuine emotion, a passionate intensity and gravity that’s seldom felt to this degree with a lot of music. The compositions themselves are, of course, a large factor in why
Behold feels and sounds so special, but it’s ultimately Aaron’s emotive vocal work and multi-faceted lyric writing that brings it all together; it’s a symbiosis that’s intrinsic to the overall experience.
And so, with that context in mind, it’s a little strange to see that a year later
Behold got an instrumental release. After thoroughly going through all of the band’s discography this year, and gorging on every single sonic crumb
Behold had to offer me in particular, it seemed kind of logical to check out its instrumental counterpart just to see how the record fairs without its most emotional element in the mix. Testament to why
Behold is such a monumental release,
Behold (Instrumental) serves up another enchanting experience, but in a different kind of way. With the omission of Aaron’s gorgeous, gossamer vocal passages, that protective layer over
Behold’s armour is gone and you’re left with the music literally speaking for itself. It’s actually quite a liberating experience as, with Aaron’s vocals gone, you’re free to explore and completely grasp the bustling soundscapes; enjoy and appreciate the impassioned texturing and density that went into the record; and absorb the ethereal vistas in a vastly different way. You’ll pick up on sounds and instruments you didn’t notice before, and you’ll saturate yourself in every washy guitar passage, harmony, piano key, and crunchy guitar riff to its absolute fullest.
Concluding my initial thoughts on why I thought it was strange My Epic had released an instrumental version of
Behold; it’s apparent the band were confident enough with the music to let it speak for itself. Not only do you get a different perspective, you’re afforded the opportunity to dissect these compositions in autistic detail, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have an absolute blast going through it in this form. While the complete album is obviously the superior version, if you’re wanting to experience it in a different way, this will satiate your curiosities in a way that’s still as gratifying. It’s certainly the most intimate experience of the two, as you genuinely feel like you’re in the studio with the band while they’re playing these songs, and it’s just as immersive as its original counterpart.
