:: Beyond Mortal Dreams - From Hell

Beyond Mortal Dreams

Despite some high profile gigs around the country playing support to both Nile and Decapitation last year, Adelaide death metal act Beyond Mortal Dreams have been relatively quiet of late, with 2007 passing by without any of the band’s promised new material emerging. But two years after the release of their ‘The Demon And The Tree Of The Dead’, the long running four piece act have finally returned with something new in the form of their debut full-length effort ‘From Hell’. Direction wise, Beyond Mortal Dreams haven’t altered their formula too much on ‘Beyond Hell’ compared to their former efforts, with the opening title track ‘From Hell’ picking up exactly from where the band left off a couple of years ago. And that’s not a bad thing either, as the band had already mastered the art of writing some pretty devastating and demonic death metal tunes. But that’s not to say that the band have refused to improve and progress.

On ‘From Hell’, it’s evident that the band has tightened up their sound a lot more, and the subtle interaction between the different instruments and fills come across as more refined and powerful sounding. The chaotic blitz of both ‘Where The Unbelievers Burn’ and ‘Destined For Annihilation’ is the sound of sheer brutality as the heavy and fast rhythms pound away in a punishing fashion alongside Hodgson’s inhuman guttural growls, while on ‘The Earth Belongs To Hell’, the band forsake the relentless battering at times to fully exploit the dynamics they can summon up with passages of hammering grooves. The keyboard presence on ‘From Hell’ isn’t quite as predominant as it was on the band’s earlier releases, with the stunning instrumental ‘Desolation Hymn’ one of the few tracks on the album to really feature the use of keys alongside some soundscape effects, while ‘In Agony… Everafter’ and ‘We Ascend’ are as every bit as crushing as the tracks that preceded them.

My initial reaction was that while Beyond Mortal Dreams were a good death metal act, ‘The Demon And The Tree Of The Dead’ only managed to hint at the potential within the band. Two years on, and with the release of ‘From Hell’, it’s clear that Beyond Mortal Dreams have well and truly delivered on their promise. ‘From Hell’ might have been a year late, but it’s easily one of the best Australian death metal releases I’ve heard this year.