Beyond The Black - Songs of Love and Death (2015)

Genre saturation can be a problematic eventuality if one views musical quality through the lens of value tied to scarcity, or in other words, the less of something there is, the better it becomes. Naturally there are some bizarre looking creatures on the endangered species list that cut against this if the subject is literal aesthetics. In musical terms, the point of all this is that if a thousand bands are putting out music in the same style, it does not necessarily follow that a certain quota of bands be dubbed lackluster on this fact alone. For someone who truly craves a nice song with a melody, all the necessary trappings of the metal genre, and bombastic orchestral elements, there isn't a set limit on how many bands or albums are available for consumption, and the idea of getting something akin to Nightwish, Epica, Sirenia or Within Temptation on a more frequent basis is hardly viewed as a bad thing.

Thus stands Beyond The Black, a recently formed German outfit with all the obligatory trimmings of said outfits, manifested in a dual musical affair of moderate ambition and hopelessly catchy hooks dubbed Songs Of Love And Death. Featuring a pop-leaning and pristine front woman in Jennifer Haben that conjures up a lot of similarities to Sharon Den Adel and maybe a bit of Pilar Garcia, one might liken them to being a middle era Xandria clone with a less operatic soprano. Indeed, both this outfit and the older German counterpart that has been emulating Nightwish a bit longer draw a lot of elements from the less power metal tinged character of Century Child and Once, though this particular outfit veers a bit closer to the cleaner cut, smoother character of the former and also takes a few subtle clues from earlier material. This most manifests in a more ambitious lead guitar output courtesy of Nils Lesser, who puts a shred happy solo of moderate length into just about every song on here. It's a pity that Nightwish's Emppu forgot how to cut heads like this about 10 years ago, because it's a valuable tool in breaking with the safeness of the standard song structures being employed in this style.

Technically speaking, this album's chief flaw is basically that it plays things a tad safe and largely relies on extremely predictable elements, though they are very well presented. The opener "In The Shadows" has all the obligatory folk theme trappings and upbeat grooving to find itself on an early 2000s Nightwish album; in fact, it sounds almost exactly like said band's reinterpretation of Gary Moore's "Over The Hills And Far Away" from the EP by the same name. Similarly, "Pearl In A World Of Dirt" and "Drowning In Darkness" utilize the typical duality of somber piano ballad material with chunky heavy sections right out of the "Nemo" and "Ever Dream" formula. The only downside to their take on it is the harsh male vocalist that occasionally chimes in is a bit weaker than Marco Hietala and sounds more like a metalcore screamer, though thankfully its an occasional device rather than a full time "beauty and the beast" duet approach. Nothing on here comes off as weak per say, but on the stronger end of things, the charming acoustic ballad turned speeder "Hallelujah" and the heavy, almost thrashing epic with a grand orchestral pomp "When Angels Fall" are impressive zeniths that definitely bear repeated listens.

Some things don't get old, mostly because they stand on extremely firm ground, and that's how Beyond The Black should be approached, as a band maintaining a tradition and bringing some occasional pop elements into the equation. In small doses, pop can actually be a complementary element, though the author of this review was never really overtly hostile to more radio friendly alternative metal acts such as Evanescence, though said bands did come up a bit short when it came to the obligatory ornamentation needed to keep their formula from going stale. Chalking it all up to taste alone would be a cop-out, but Beyond The Black is the sort of band that functions as a tasty appetizer that eats like a meal, and given the infrequent and less than stellar output by Nightwish of late, this is the sort of band that can adequately fill the void. Come hear the pretty voice, the melancholy anthems, and join in with the lowest common denominator as he enjoys some compact, catchy little sonic treats.