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Beyond Helvete – Anthem Of Decay

beyond helvete – anthem of decay

Info

The oddly named one-man Black Metal band Beyond Helvete is the brainchild of Sven ‘Natrgaard’ Krause and was already formed in 2007. Though being able to release two albums and some other recordings, Krause decided to carry his project to the grave in 2012. But, apparently he felt that he was not finished with it, the release of the ‘MMXX’ album marked the resurrection of Beyond Helvete in 2020. Just like that album, this new record, ‘Anthem Of Decay’, saw the light through the Belgian Immortal Frost Productions label.

The music on Beyond Helvete’s first offerings, including those of its first inception, was kind of limping on two (or even more) thoughts, making all of those previous recordings a bit unbalanced and even a little unstable. It comes across as if Krause was not quite able to decide which way to go with his musical ideas. It had so many different angles, that it felt quite schizophrenic and simply lacked coherence. And, frankly, again, Krause went back to the drawing boards for the writing process of ‘Anthem Of Decay’.

Gone are the rocking parts and the slower sections from its predecessors. ‘Anthem Of Decay’ is a no-frills, all guns blazing sort of straight forwarded kind of Black Metal that is quite reminiscent of the Swedish style of the late 90’s. Filled to the very brim with anger and aggression, it blasts its way through its playing time (of roughly 40 minutes). The sharp riffs and hate-filled vocals compliment the apt drumming of session drummer Jonas Schmid (also responsible for the drums on ‘MMXX’). Together they blend in their individual elements to stir it all up in a very violent sounding Black Metal bonanza. While this sort of Swedish styled Black Metal tends to get a little one-dimensional at times, that is not so much the case with ‘Anthem Of Decay’. Schmid knows his craft and throws in enough fills and tempo changes to keep you at the very edge of your seat. The very few moments that you are allowed to get a breather, such as the acoustic piece in ‘Infinity In Stone’, makes the album even better. The crisp and clear production is basically doing the rest, making this new album definitely the best work Beyond Helvete has ever delivered.

While not particularly original, Beyond Helvete brings you a tried and tested kind of Black Metal in a very well executed manner. Sometimes Black Metal doesn’t need much more than speed, aggression, hate and violence to crystalize into a more than a solid record.

Beyond Helvete

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