The Beyond

In a time before acclaimed post-metal act Cult of Luna found their sound and calling with a more progressive approach, the band was known for their work with sludge. With a primal and hardcore edge to them, their self-titled debut and this, 'The Beyond' deliver quite a different side to the act than one can hear with the more atmospheric work. Soaked in heaviness and a side order of anger to go, Cult Of Luna's second album does get the sense of sheer heaviness and mood across, but it is sparse in detail and nuances, and coupled with its highly repetitive nature, the album can wear quite thin.

At seventy-four minutes in length, even a truly excellent album would begin to lose its grip on the listener, saving the exception of a perfect masterpiece. 'The Beyond' unfortunately does not have the variety or dynamic to warrant such a length, and it is its length which ironically becomes its greatest weakness. While the heavy drone and holler of the music here has its place and at times can be quite powerful, there is very little noticeable change between tracks; most compositions here usually entail repetitive chord progressions, sludgy riffs, mid-tempo drums and deep growls. Were the album cut down to forty minutes of its greatest ideas and musical concepts, the end result would have still been similar in sound and theme, but much more effective at doing so.

Occasionally, the band breaks its sound down into more subtle and mellow atmospheric rock sections, and this is where most of the best ideas on 'The Beyond' are hiding out. While many riffs here are nearly indistinguishable from each other in their relatively uniform speed, tone and process, the more mellow parts see the band experimenting a bit with harmonies and musical counterpoints, giving a nice hint of what would be heard a couple of years later from Cult of Luna.

While the tracks here generally sound the same save for a short introductory track and interlude, some songs are more consistent and powerful with their use of musical ideas. Chief among this would be the track 'Deliverence', which employs some more complex chords and progressions that also hint at future efforts by the band. Unfortunately, why the latter half does ultimately turn out to be better than the first, by that point in the album, the sludgy, droning and heavy sound has already worn out its welcome.

There is a scarcity of nuances in 'The Beyond' which does make it an album that lacks the longevity of Cult of Luna's masterpieces, but for a listener aching for a cathartic hour of noisy, heavy turbulence in the form of metal music, 'The Beyond' may serve as a fleeting remedy.

From the depths of industrial catacombs rises an unrelenting beast – awakened like a forgotten, advanced race of cyborgs from a parallel dimension. Cult Of Luna’s second offering goes beyond the debut’s cryptic tone and relishes in the post / cyber-apocalyptic realm of futility to literally churn a new warp hole of cataclysmic proportions. The band is arguably at their heaviest here – thundering guitars eclipsing time itself backed by Rydberg’s lion-like roars make up the impenetrable backbone of the album, and it’s thicker than any steak sauce on the market. Production all around is a step up: crisp, booming, rich, and with plenty of distortion for the listener to get lost in like an abyss.

A good lot of the songs on here hover around ten minutes in play-length and contain three different measures of intensity – interludes / breaks, build-ups, and straightforward, colossal, riff-infested typhoons. Nothing is too conventional structurally, but the emphasis on adventurous concepts isn’t lost, either. The first few tracks (barring the programmed introductory one) are consecutive earthquakes – not seismic shockwaves as a result, but out-of-the-blue earthquakes with massive consequences. One after the other, we’re caught off-guard by bellowing bass rupturing in chaotic support of the psychotic, overwhelming guitar attacks: distortion never goes through the roof as it would with drone, but the amount of it being shed layer after layer provides for a massively treacherous tone. Celtic Frost’s Monotheist still reigns supreme in the guitar tone department, but this one doesn’t get tiring or redundant; it provides a warm, fuzzy, comforting feeling while still sounding merciless and intimidating. However, the use of a monstrous guitar tone can only truly be backed by competent riffs. From the despondent, perilous spirals of “Receiver” to the crushing, tyrannical waves of “Arrival,” one will surly feel like an insignificant entity in this vast, infinite expanse called the universe.

Thankfully, the ambient, electronic, and soundscape undertones are kept to a strictly background role. The guitars and bass are at the front, surging like electricity traveling through rusty pipes. The tone keeps you on your feet – it always sounds like there’s some ominous, unknown enemy lurking in the darkest corners of the deep space; it waits for its time to reawaken (Mass Effect fans be on the lookout). The build-ups let you know when the squids are about to surf through your bedroom window, living up to their role and bracing you for the inevitable. The interludes come and go whenever they please: “Circle” has one right at the beginning that sounds more country than most pop-country, “Arrival” and “Further” sport jarring Noam Chomsky-sampled breaks, the outro of “Deliverance” rises like tides of tranquility, and the rest seep in and out of their respective tracks much like the ambiance rolling off the oil drums like slick grime.

Deep and monolithic, we behold The Beyond and its omnipresence as a voice for all life. After that, all life capitulates to Rydberg’s burly hollering, giving his all through his own voice and almost reaching growling power that would shred anyone else's vocal chords. They’re a tad hardcore-ish, as indicative of his past history, but here they sometimes get altered electronically – that is, like a machine splitting up his vocals into layers. As loud as the guitars and bass get, his vocals do get overpowered, but he does enough to stay above the waves of riffs most of the time, especially on the doomtastic final track. Drumming is right behind him, firing like artillery rounds of shocking cymbal crashes and numb-inducing drum bass that’d turn an octopus inside out. The rhythm of every song manages to never careen endlessly; a steady, buoyant pace is contained throughout The Beyond, which means drumming sits back and checks with timely, calm playing during the breaks and erupting bashes of pitiless, amphibious assaults during the high marks; no concern for blast beats, complex patterns, or viciously fast pummeling.

With a diabolical, cynical tone led by Rydberg’s distinguished boisterous capabilities, The Beyond stands its ground with a guise that’ll devastate all mankind. Cult Of Luna’s reputation began with this album and today it still continues to answer the call to remind us of the universe’s darker secrets. More than meets the eye here, but there’s no mistake in what you hear.

‘The Beyond’ is a continuation of the first opus from Cult Of Luna. It is produced in much the similar vein to the seductively sludge-induced self-titled record. Differences between this effort and the previous are minimal so, as my opinion was high in regards to the debut, my opinion is once again high. ‘The Beyond’ and Cult Of Luna in general, at this stage, were beginning to set themselves up as one of the most influential bands to hit the post-hardcore/sludge scene since the arrival of bands like Isis and Neurosis, whom are accredited to have influenced Cult Of Luna initially. The Swedish act’s arrival turned many heads because of it’s harrowing and honest approach to a genre that many deem decaying and dying due to the influx of average acts. To many, ‘The Beyond’ is seen as a rare glimpse into the minds of multi-talented musicians and the first real significant showing that Cult Of Luna can go on to be the next big thing. In my opinion, it wasn’t until ‘The Beyond’ that Cult Of Luna really did establish themselves as one of the modern era’s best and rightfully so. The prolific career continues.

In years to come, Cult Of Luna will adopt an age old method of tuning down their music and mellowing their sound out, see ’Somewhere Along The Highway’, from the heavy roots that they came from, ala ‘Cult Of Luna‘. Turning from a impervious incarnation of heaviness to a mellow and mellifluous spirit, wandering in the form of softly driven hymns, is a risky business. Many bands try and fail to win over their already well established fan base by experimenting with a softer sound, as opposed to maintaining the heavy driven atmospheres and end up losing much of the respect they earned themselves, sometimes earning the tag of ‘sellouts’. Cult Of Luna are a band who managed to turn this in their favour. To me, ‘The Beyond’ is the first stepping stone to the softly driven sound of Cult Of Luna. Songs like ‘Circle’ are a fine example of what would become of this Swedish act. The opening to the song in particular is immense. The drifting melodies of the guitars intertwine with the lightly structured percussion in the background. The smooth and soothing sounds would later become a familiar trait of their music, but at this stage it is seen as more of an experimentation than anything.

The change in directly, however slight in may be, is still important. Much of the elements from the first encounter with Cult Of Luna still exist. The heavily induced guitars, layered on top of each other to produce that impenetrable wall that we became so familiar with, create the perfect mixture in soundscapes. From the entrancing and intoxicating opening to songs like ‘Circle’ to the empowering emotional elements of the main lead for ‘The Watchtower’, one of the best songs on the record. All aspects of the instrumental aesthetics are imperative. Nothing gets lost in the inspired noise that Cult Of Luna creates. Bass and drums offer strong foundations for the guitars and guitarists to really perform at the top level with diverse and multiply directed leads. The Cult Of Luna sound, on the surface, seems to go in many different directions. Whilst the drums and the vocals are the main conspirators of the crushing sound, the guitars and keyboards offer more in the way of beautiful content. The keyboards, in particular, are not afraid to discover the realms of beauty that can be found in ambience or mellowed out musings. There are several occasions, of course, when the guitars do step in to enhance the edge of the powerful songs with high amounts of distortion and heavy riffs. Take ‘Leash’ for example, for the most part, the song works well to drive the exciting experiments that Cult Of Luna have produced and they never allow the audience to rest easy. Unlike the debut, which was more fixated on forcing distorted guitars with hard and rigid edges down our throats, ‘The Beyond’ likes to offer more variation in sound. ‘Genesis‘ and ‘Leash’, again, is a good example of this with it’s tendency to alternate between the heavy and mellow sounds aforementioned throughout this review.

‘The Beyond’ has improved vocally too. The vocals on the debut had a tendency to become slightly overbearing, which would detract from the atmospheric and often progressive shifts in mood and texture. Clean vocals were introduced to us on occasions, like on ‘To Be Remembered’, but didn’t have much of a pivotal role. The vocals have allowed more expression in terms of the instrumental drive on this occasion because they’re not as overwhelming as they once were. We later learn, on latter albums, that Cult Of Luna do begin to adopt cleaner vocals which greatly enhances their sound. Production wise, this is as it should be. Clean, but with mystical surroundings. The almost cosmic feel of songs like ‘Genesis’ aptly portray this. Lyrically, Cult Of Luna work much like they do instrumentally. The lyrics weave in and out of complex ideas but always manage to unravel themselves before us before the day is done.

“Through times I thought of what we created
For greater causes that brought us down to this
The ground is shaking from all the people below
One thing I've learned from this is,
What you reap is what you sow.”

In conclusion, ‘The Beyond’ is a fantastic piece of inspirational metal. For fans of bands like Generation Of Vipers. ‘The Watchtower’, ‘Circle’ and ‘Leash’ represent the best material.

Damn, what an awesome album. Having owned Salvation and their Self Titled effort for quite a while now, I was doubtful whether this would match those efforts. But this is a truly great album, matching up the massive walls of noise of the debut with the far more delicate tunes of Salvation.

The first proper song, Receiver, basically says what this album is about. Massive walls of guitars with some equally high quality clean parts.. that's a good summation of this song, this album, indeed this band in general. Basically, if you own a Cult of Luna album, you know what to expect.

There's a really element of confidence in this album. Everything in it is in the perfect place, and CoL aren't too afraid to play parts/songs for as long as they want to.. 10 songs (only 8 proper ones) and 74 minutes is an indication of that. While the first album was basically drawn out, experimental hardcore, this album adds a lot of different sounds to this band. Further sounds like Earth or Sunn O))) mixed with Neurosis. Circle has some fairly awesome Pedal Steel guitar being played over a downbeat mellow thing. It's real nice, and a nice break from the noise. There's also much more use of dynamics.. Witness Cycle go from 1 to 10 in a few seconds. Some of the songs are mostly beautiful, mellow trips while others are just happy to pummel you for ages, like Leash, which is one of the heaviest songs ever made. All of this diverse music is backed by the usual monotone bark from the singer. Think Meshuggah style vocals, you won't be too far off. The singer writes top-notch lyrics, but it would be good for a bit of variation.. The occaisonal bits of clean singing in Salvation were really, really good, and it's a shame there's none to be found on this record.

I should probably add a disclaimer to this record... While I can't recommend this band highly enough, this album is very heavy indeed, maybe not quite as abrasive as the first album, but listening to it all the way through is very exhausting. Still, you'll be missing out on a great album otherwise. If you like early Neurosis, Isis etc., you really should check this album out. It's great!


EditL Dropping it down by 11%. It's good, but it's nowhere near 97% good. Still get this album though!

I just sort of bought this album out of the blue... to be honest, I thought it was a cool band name and asked around as to what the band were like. The few replies I recieved from people "in the know" were laden with Neurosis references. Well, I guess I can sort of see where they were coming from, but CoL definitely have something of their own going on here.

Cult of Luna are all about building a song through repetition over a fairly lengthy amount of time. Discounting the few brief instrumental interludes, the avaerage trck length is around 9 minutes. The two guitars interplay nicely, with a sound that is not heavy in a crushing, distorted sort of way, rather a noisy, effects-driven sound that is very effective for this moody, doomy style. It's a very big-sounding album - the riffs are generally simple, but when combined with the keyboards and rhythm section and given time to build dynamics, it's all very deep and involving listening. The aggresive vocals were kind of a suprise at first for such a slow, sludgy band, but they really do work a treat. Each song generally has relatively few "parts", but the layering of lots of sounds ensures that you will hear something new in the songs everytime. The overall mood is fairly opressive, but just when you think it's all dark and depressing, CoL allow some genuinely beautiful stuff to shine through - the delicate, almost country-esque slide guitar into to "Circles" or the crushingly beatiful backwards-guitar driven "Clones", for example. These are a brief respite from the heaviness, and show that CoL are definitely more than one trick ponies.

Overall, then, I can't recommend this album enough. Fans of Doom will no doubt lap it up, but even my non-metal liking flatmate was sucked into the atmosphere created by this gem of an album. I've since checked out their debut, which clearly showed the potential they had leading up to the creation of this one, and I'm genuinely interested in seeing what they come up with next. Great band, great album.

Cult Of Luna are back with their sophomore effort, THE BEYOND. Following on from their self-titled debut album and a split 7" with Switchblade, THE BEYOND manages to easily surpass Cult Of Luna's previous releases. Everything on THE BEYOND has a more overwhelming sound, while having a broader variation of musical styles.

After listening to the album once, I was somewhat surprised that I had just listened to over an hour of music. It seemed about 30 mins at the most but the album is actually over 74 minutes long. The mass of sound pounded out by this album just sucks the listener in. The closest match to Cult Of Luna's sound would be Meshuggah, but Cult Of Luna have a lot more variation in their sound.

Upon further listening, I was able to take in the vast amount of sounds on this album. Every time I listened I could hear different sounds, ones I hadn't heard in previous listens. There are vast layers of different sounds on each song, and that's what makes this album as good as it is. However, it's just short of perfect as some of the songs seem to lose their structure half way through. Despite this, THE BEYOND is still well worth parting with your hard-earned cash for.

(Originally written by me for http://metal-rules.com)