BEYOND THE BLACK

Brimming with promise from the start, BEYOND THE BLACK began their career sounding not entirely distinct from the rest of the big-budget symphonic metal pack. Debut album "Songs of Love and Death" was full of great songs and vocalist Jennifer Haben had power and charisma in abundance, but this was still familiar territory.

Eight years is a long time in heavy music, however, and as they arrive at the unavoidably defining moment of a self-titled record, BEYOND THE BLACK have refined their music to the point where it stands alone, as a fresh new strain of deceptively heavy melodic metal. WITHIN TEMPTATION pulled off a similar trick on 2011's "The Unforgiving"; upgrading their sound, embracing modernity and shedding the majority of symphonic tropes. The Germans have taken a more organic approach to evolution, changing incrementally but regularly over a longer period, and so "Beyond The Black" is unlikely to startle the faithful, particularly after 2020's quietly daring "Horizons". What it may do is push its creators up a few rungs on the showbiz ladder because these songs are easily the finest of their career to date.

"Is Anybody Out There?" is a sublime opener: bombastic and infernally catchy, it's an instant metal anthem, built around a giant wall of guitars and thick swathes of futuristic synth. "Reincarnation" tells a tale of past and future lives over a punishing collage of riffs, Haben's hooks as sharp as needles. "Free Me" embraces the lavish arrangements and stirring choirs of high-spec AOR, while also being extraordinarily sweet and pretty, wielding a show-stopper chorus. "Winter Is Coming" is a proper, balls-out metal song with a theatrical heart and some wickedly unexpected chord shifts. "Into The Light" wears its pop sensibilities with pride, while still packing a brutish, mid-paced punch.

As much as they have steered the ship firmly away from the generic, BEYOND THE BLACK have still had the good sense to throw in a powerhouse ballad. "Wide Awake" is a really good one, too: atypical and emotionally vital. In contrast, "Dancing In The Dark" (not, I hasten to add, a Bruce Springsteen cover) is a joyously overblown stomp-along triumph. If this doesn't resound around arenas for the foreseeable future, there is no justice in this wicked world. Speaking of which, despair at the state of things is given short shrift on the urgent, edgy "Raise Your Head", wherein Haben delivers a career best performance over more maxed-out bombast. "Not In Our Name" allows a little folksiness to seep into the Germans' signature soup but coupled with some of their heaviest riffs to date and a living, breathing message that speaks for itself.

The closing "I Remember Dying" is the only moment that nods towards the textbook opulence of the past, but its spectral choirs and hypnotic, ancient drums conjure something much more evocative and moving than BEYOND THE BLACK were capable of on their debut album. These days, their identity is rock solid and their creative instincts are razor-sharp. Ten killer songs, no messing about.