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"Carried by a Jennifer Haben in great shape, Beyond The Black offers a remarkable opus of melodic metal with a female singer !"
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4/5
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The 2016 split is long gone for Beyond The Black. Jennifer Haben, its frontwoman, not only worked to revive the band but has since allowed it to rise to the coveted platform of the masters of "female-fronted" melodic metal with two colorful opuses, the essential "Heart Of The Huricane" and "Hørizøns". Today, the band's fifth album is released, and it's surprisingly a self-titled one. This brings us to a corollary question, could this choice be the sign of a new beginning?
After noting the absence of bassist Stefan Herkenhoff - replaced by session musicians - transforming the quintet into a quartet, and noticing that taking care of the album covers doesn't really seem to be a priority for the band, we'll point out that the opus contains only ten tracks. This is not usual for the Germans. This fear of lack of inspiration is however fleeting, the quality of the compositions quickly proving to be high in colors. From the beginning of the opus, the fan is reassured, Beyond The Black is in great shape and makes the powder speak.
The riffs of 'Is There Anybody Out There?' stun the audience while 'Reincarnation' traps it with its Celtic entry then acoustic and its calm verse, the epic melody and its guttural roars then tackling it to the walls. As for 'Free Me', where ballad, acoustic guitar, epic and symphonic impulses are mixed, it will make the fan in front of so much know-how. The metal of this new work is less tinged with pop, more heavy symphonic than its elders, it tends to prove that the combo has entered its maturity phase, just like Jennifer who has never sung so well.
Her performance on the restful 'Wide Awake' is phenomenal. She carries this album on her shoulders, delivering her lyrics with the same percussion that characterizes the work of Kai Tschierschky, the band's talented drummer (pay attention to his strike on 'Winter Is Coming'). If you add to these strong tracks the hit 'Dancing In The Dark' and the wonderfully 'I Remember Dying', half ballad/half anthem, where a saxophone comes to finish the job, you get an opus that, once again, will populate the top ten of the charts.
So the Mannheim natives don't give up. The other contenders for the top spot just have to behave themselves and not make a mistake with their next releases. Beyond The Black has set the bar very high with this eponymous opus. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Is there Anybody Out There?
02. Reincarnation
03. Free Me
04. Winter Is Coming
05. Into The Light
06. Wide Awake
 07. Dancing In The Dark
08. Raise Your Head
09. Not In Our Name
10. I Remember Dying
11. I Remember Dying (Stranger Reprise)
12. Wide Awake (Piano Version)
13. Raise Your Head (String Version)
LINEUP:
Chris Hermsdörfer: Guitares
Jennifer Haben: Chant
Kai Tschierschky: Batterie
Tobias Lodes: Guitares
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READERS
4.3/5 (3 view(s))
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STAFF:
4/5 (2 view(s))
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