1349 - Beyond The Apocalypse
One of the newer modern black metal bands out of Scandinavia. Beyond The Apocalypse is their latest release and in my opinion, their best.
Chasing Dragons - 4/5
Awesome fast intro. Then moves into a high-pitched tremolo-picking first verse. Then a dark low breakdown full of double bass and low growls. Speeds back up with some crazy drumming. At 3:45 everything stops but the guitar and then wicked-fast drumming starts again and the singing comes back. The tremolo-picking melodies change at least 4 times in this song. At around 5:30 the guitar changes and gets really dark and evil until about 5:45. The last minute and a quarter are straight banging black metal
Beyond The Apocalypse - 3.5/5
Starts out slower with a really cool guitar lead and fast drumming. Then into the fast riffing verse. Really fast and intricate guitar work in the verse. Guitar changes and goes into another verse. The singing remains brutal and evil. At around 2:25 the song gets higher and faster. The rest of the song remains fast and heavy.
Aiwas Aeon - 4/5
high-pitched guitar intro that repeats many times then moves into tremolo-picking and fast drums. The intro repeats again and then the singing starts around the 1:00 mark. Transition at 1:33. Double bass used a lot on this track. Less dark and evil than other songs due to the higher pitched guitars.
Nekronatalenheten - 4/5
Tremolo-picking right from the start. Drums start in faint and slow and then move into a slow, steady beat with the toms and then double bass as the verse starts. The drums are the most significant thing on this track. The singing starts around 1:12. The breakdown at around 1:50 has some cool string bending effects. At around 2:55 there"s a time sig change and the music kind of goes progressive for a while. At about 3:52, it goes back to pounding double bass and fast lead guitars until the end.
Perished In Pain - 3.5/5
The intro sounds like something you"d hear from emperor. The singing starts at :45. First time I"ve heard pinch harmonics so far. At around 1:50 there"s an amazing breakdown that only lasts around 15 seconds. Nothing too special as far as this song goes.
Singer Of Strange Songs - 5/5
Starts off with a double bass drum intro that I love! First song so far with this much use of power chords and the only black metal song I"ve heard with octaves. First breakdown at around :55. The second Verse has a great original sounding guitar lead. At 1:49 theres a extremely fast breakdown with crazy drums. At 2:40 some really eery guitar leads start. The screaming is very aggressive in this song. It goes instrumental for about 35 seconds. This song has so many transitions it"s amazing!
Blood Is The Mortar - 3/5
The intro is dark and fast paced with tremolo-picking. The verse uses power chords instead of tremolo-picking. Great vocals in the verse. At 1:22 it speeds up considerably. At about 2:00 there"s a breakdown that is extremely eery. There"s also pinch harmonics in this song every here and there. Last :20 or so are extremely fast.
Internal Winter - 4.5/5
The longest song on the CD (7:41.) Slow and evil intro with power chords and intricate drumming. Singing finally starts around 1:28. More use of power chords. Breakdown at around 2:50. New verse progression starts around 4:09. Big breakdown at 4:40. Tremolo-picking bridge at around 5:10. Very nice solo at the end. The song kind of carries on for more than it should.
The Blade - 6/5
The last song on the album coming in at around 6 minutes. It stays almost completely silent for about the first minute until whispers start becoming clearer. Then an organ starts to play, then the drums follow with a slow and simple beat. The guitar then comes in with a gentle lead. At around 3:15 it kicks into gear with eery singing and slow and evil guitar and drumming. Just overall an amazingly eery song. Truly an amazing song. The 6 minutes just whiz by. The ending is very silent...
The album as a whole is amazing. I found the album to fly by. Each song has so many different breakdowns and transitions it"s amazing
I hope everyone finds this review decent and helpful
