Eternal Pestilence

Sudbury, Canada, might be as remote to you as Asuncion, Paraguay. But, Sudbury is where a band named Beyond Within originates from. Without knowing this, listening to a few songs off Eternal Pestilence could convince you that they were coming from some cold end of Finland. Though Beyond Within may sound unique to some, they play the same genre of music as Norther or Kalmah; a mix of melodic death metal with black metal. The black metal-like vocals are done by Todd Pidgeon, the powerful drumming (sometimes even peeking to death metal blast beats) provided by Paul Larochelle, the melodic guitars courtesy of Chris Finlay and Dave St-Louis, and the keyboards by Darren Favot, adding extra symphonic gloom to Pidgeon's dark lyrics.

Though they might not be the forerunners of a new type of metal, Beyond Within are very good at what they do, no doubt through endless practicing and countless live shows. Beyond Within is making a name for themselves by playing shows with the likes of Cryptopsy, Behemoth, Decapitated, Quo Vadis, Necromonicon, Beneath The Massacre, and countless others, while picking up on some skills of the masters along the way. What I particularly like about this CD is that it's raw and effective. Sure, there are some very minor mishaps in certain songs, but that only strengthens my respect for this band. Invisible to the untrained ear, these very very minor and very rare mistakes just to prove that I am, in fact, listening to a real band, instead of a Pro-Tools manufactured and over-produced studio band.

There are no songs I dislike on this album, which is very rare, considering I am a man of little patience. With most songs clocking in under 5 minutes (with the exception of Black Future) Beyond Within manage to drive home effectively in their songs backed by Larochelle's powerful drumming, Finlay and St-Louis' melodic guitars, and the relentless assault of Todd Pidgeon's throat and vocal chords. Standout songs, for me, were Destined To Destroy, Black Future, and The End I Become Death. While their lineup has changed since the recording of Eternal Pestilence, if Beyond Within can keep this up and make more songs like the ones on this album, I'm sure that in the near future, they'll be playing shows with even bigger bands, and hopefully get themselves the hell out of Sudbury.

Originally written by myself for kickedintheface.com.