Far Beyond - The End Of My Road (Prosthetic Records) [Paul Scoble]
Far Beyond is a one man project of Eugen Dodenhoeft, who is based in Bavaria in Germany. Far Beyond has bee going since 2001 and in that time Eugen has made two other albums and an EP, first full length was called An Angels Requiem and was recorded in 2005, the EP was called Songs Of Hope And Sorrow and was released in 2009, and the last full length album came out in 2016 and was called A Frozen Flame Of Ice. Eugen plays all instruments, including drum programming and vocals.
Initially Far Beyond classed themselves as symphonic black metal, however they now feel closer to symphonic metal or atmospheric death metal. In my opinion all of these descriptions have merit as I can hear bits that are still savage enough to be considered black metal and the same goes for symphonic metal or atmospheric death metal, all these sounds are there, blended together. This does have a definite orchestral, composed feel to it.
Eugen has used lots of strings and other classical instruments (I realise that these may all be on a computer, but this is what it sounds like) and choirs, with heavy guitars, bass and drums in the mix as well. The mix of orchestral with metal varies throughout the album, in some places full on black or death metal, in others soft classical instalments with barely any metal at all, and everything in between. The album is structured with four long and complex songs with three short minimal instrumentals. The short instrumentals are the first, third and fifth tracks on the album, and as more than one of the longer songs have long build ups and fade outs the album has a very pleasing ebb and flow to its structure.
The first of the long tracks is A Symphony Of Light, which is aptly symphonic, orchestral with a huge arrangement and a choir! The song mixes big symphonic metal with clean vocals, with more riffy metal with harsh vocals, the big multi-layered sections are, in places, reminiscent of some of Devin Townsend’s huger material, and other massive progressive metal. The song also boasts a very good guitar solo, another great feature as great Guitar solos are scattered across the album, and they always add to the songs.
After one of the short instrumentals, we get the song Tempus Fugit, a mix of riffy purposeful Guitar parts with choir and Guitar harmonies with sections where melodies that feel quite folky and have a ‘World Music’ feel to them that I thought was similar to some of Thy Catafalque’s more recent material. Again we get another short instrumental before the next longer track, From The Stars And The Crescent Moon. Which is the fastest and most extreme track on the album, as some of the sections have a similar feel to symphonic black metal such as Emperor, and in one section that features some melodies that are baroque in style, this gives it a feel that is quite reminiscent of Japanese band Sigh’s song Purgatorium. The song also features some thrashy black metal, big orchestrated symphonic metal and another great guitar solo.
The album comes to an end with the title track The End Of My Road. the song opens in a soft ballad like way, with clean guitar, strings and clean Vocals, the song builds over it’s length, increasing the tempo and drive of the song, whilst keeping the melodic components constant, so although the arrangement builds from very minimal to a huge and complex, as the melodies stay the same it helps to hold everything together so that it feels like one complete piece of work rather than a amalgam of disparate parts.
The End Of My Road is a great album. It’s made up of a huge amount of different elements melded together in a way that feels complete and cohesive. As a piece of composition this is very impressive due to its complexity and the fact that it is still very easy to appreciate, Eugen Dodenhoeft has managed to get the mix of complexity with melody and an almost perfect feeling of ebb and flow. It’s a very enjoyable album, full of great melodies, huge arrangements and, when it is needed, really savage, blasting extremity. Getting this mix right without any of the elements dominating over any of the others, The End Of My Road is a triumph of balance. 8/10
Durbin - Screaming Steel (Frontiers Music Srl) [Matt Bladen]
American singer James Durbin, reinvented himself with 2021's The Beast Awakens, after appearing as the 'metal guy' on American Idol, he could have taken the route of fame from his TV background, and his collaborations with Zakk Wylde, Mick Mars, Tom Jones, Stevie Wonder and others but decided to build himself up with his own heavy metal project. So with a multi album deal under his belt here comes his second album of heavy metal machismo Screaming Steel. Look at the title, look at the album cover, hear the vocals, the two main influences on Durbin's style are Judas Priest and Dio, his histrionic the air raid screams pure Halford and co as this new album kicks off with Made Of Metal, the biting guitars of Aldo Lonobile and Luca Birotto the Tipton/Downing of this album.
Lonobile is known to Frontiers fans as the man behind Secret Sphere and Sweet Oblivion, he also produces this record, imbibing with it with an old school charm. On Screaming Steel it is of course all about Durbin's vocals but the boiler room of Mike Roberts (bass) and Marco Sacchetto (drums) drives the pace on Where They Stand, Hallows and the other classic 80's metal workouts such as the dramatic Power Of The Reaper. The guitar interplay is razor sharp but there are a lot of guest artists joining to play solos on nearly all of the tracks so I'm not sure how they transfer this into the live sphere but I guess that's a future problem. On the record though Blazing High will have you air shredding and hurting your neck if you're over 30. You can smell the leather seeping out of Screaming Steel, Durbin continues to rev up his Killing Machine with each release.
Classic metal fans rejoice as James Durbin again flies the flag for heavy metal's acceptance in the wider music world with Screaming Steel. 8/10
Verminthrone - The Cull (Self Released) [Mark Young]
Cercenatory - GoreSphere (Comatose Music) [GC]
My last couple of reviews have had less than favourable score, so this week I have been given something that usually gets a decent score from me, I have some death metal from Cercenatory and new album GoreSphere but this isn’t just death metal it ‘’Brutal’’ death metal! Which also doesn’t usually get very favourable scores either, let’s see if this will change my mind!?
Devoured By Shadows–Annales Imminentis Exilium is my least favourite of all things, an intro so not off to the best of starts, when it does get going with Inquisitor Vortex Soul Torturing its exactly what I was expecting really, but the blasting drums completely overpower everything else recorded. So make it almost impossible to hear any actual guitar riffs the its all covered over with layers of pig squeal high and indistinguishable low grunts, that just zoom by in 3 minutes, and its more of the same with Through The Deep Thoughts of Tartarean Sadistic Cannibalism but this time you can make the guitars out slightly better which does help to distinguish it all that little bit more.
If there was a bit more care and attention to the finer details at the start of this album it could have got a much better score but, it just started off way too messy and unfocused and despite the lack of imagination in places I do have to say when they did get it right, I enjoyed what I heard. 6/10