Register Forgot login?

© 2002-2024
Encyclopaedia Metallum

Privacy Policy

Mithras > Worlds Beyond the Veil > Reviews
Mithras - Worlds Beyond the Veil

Higher perspective of death metal - 90%

Hames_Jetfield, November 25th, 2020

The first of Mithras albums so deeply immersed in the "cosmic" style, giving an insight into what the Morbid Angel would look like if it flew far into cosmic sounds. But, "Worlds Beyond The Veil" is not only a compromise between "Domination" and "Formulas...". Even if you hear that the band is really close to the Angels' patents, they do it with such skill and sensitivity (you will quickly feel the atmosphere of the cover), like no other band. It's actually a higher level of inspiration of Azagthoth's band, or more precisely, developing the ideas of this band in even more extreme and unknown regions than in the Morbid Angel themselves.

"Worlds..." offers a piece of perfectly tailored death metal, technical, brutal and progressive - in equal proportions. So there is no shortage of blasts (and the speeds are sometimes really insane), guitar virtuosity, crushing slowdowns (the middle part of "Voices In The Void"!), melodies, or even...songs in the style of space ambient (e.g. "Search The Endless Planes" is a total masterpiece). In addition, the band took care of an even better sound, which made the whole sound much more professional, and they simply pulled up in compositing!

There is quite a lot of material in general, the entire album takes up to an hour and has a lot to choose from. And no matter if in terms of pure death metal ("The Caller And The Listener", title song, "Voices In The Void" or "Bequeath Thy Vision"), more melodic ("Psyrens", "They Game And You Were Silent", "The Sands Of Time") or ambient departures ("Break The Worlds' Divide", "Search The Endless Planes", "Portal To The..."). The best thing is that all these components harmonize well with each other - nothing here is a matter of chance or an intense showing off of technique or excessive ambitions.

The fact is that there is a lot of music on "Worlds...", but cutting it down to even 45 minutes would not be harmful (especially in terms of interludes). On the other hand, it's music for those who will have enough time for long listening sessions (at the end there was even a 13-minute long, very extensive "Beyond The Eyes Of Man"). It's said that what is too much is not healthy, but in the case of "Worlds Beyond The Veil" such satiety has its charm. Nothing but wish everyone such an "overloaded" album like "Worlds..."!

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2020/06/mithras-worlds-beyond-veil-2003.html

Space is a cold, dark place... - 84%

Feast for the Damned, January 25th, 2020

What happens if you mix the vocals of Morbid Angel with the guitar work of Nile? Well contrary to what you would think, you won't get Mithras. While the aforementioned two bands have definitely influenced this record on a surface level, Worlds Beyond The Veil is a lot more than a mish-mash of two random death metal bands. I always had a distaste for this band and the general problem I have with them is that they often go for too many ideas simultaneously and achieve too little (or I might just be too stupid to get the true genius nature of the records) but despite my incuriosity towards them, this record sticks out to me as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

If an average death metal fan would look at the tracklisting they would probably be confused beyond belief. The tracks are generally long, the entire album is over the one hour mark and on top of that, it has 4(!) "instrumental" tracks. Nothing indicates that this would be something enjoyable let alone great for these listeners and if they start listening to it, they will be greeted by a 6 minutes long track of ambient space music. If this doesn't scream red flags for your average Deicide and Morbid Angel fan, then nothing will. Yet, the track is just the first episode of this grand journey. The unsettling and dismal atmosphere it has gives you a feeling of being completely lost and this weird little opening track (I can't call it an intro at this point) sets up the next three tracks.

The non-ambient songs are mostly consisting of Rayner Coss giving us his best David Vincent impression and Leon Macey delivering some rather technical riffs and licks. In fact, they are so technical that they also add to the overall space and planar traveling themed atmosphere. Throughout the entire record, the unorthodox songwriting shines just bright enough the confuse most first-time listeners instantly. No repeating choruses, no predictable song progressions, no nothing. It's clear how they are considered experimental death metal. The closest they get to "being catchy" is on Lords and Masters where the guitar is guiding the song along safely with some groovy riffs that I'm almost entirely sure Gojira ripped off on their third album. The heavy, and at times even slam-ish riffing (I might get crucified for saying this one) works insanely well with the crunchy tone on the guitars, but the bass has some amazing sound as well (when it is audible over the ambiance and the riffs).

Calling them "non-ambient" might have been misleading now that I think about it. This entire album has the space ambiance, but sometimes it doesn't come with the death metal instrumentation and vocals. I have never been a fan of ambient music whatsoever, but somehow these tracks managed to hook me in. I would say that they add to the overall experience, but honestly, they are the core of the entire record. These tracks set up the atmosphere for the rest of the songs and that's the biggest strength of this record, the atmosphere. The idea of planar traveling really comes across and I don't think I can say this about any other record at all. I might be stressing the ambient elements of the record a little too much, but I don't mean to take away anything from the instrumentation either. They Came and You Were Silent is probably the song that stands out to me the most with its interesting guitar passages and the vocals that could be best described as "God of Emptiness goes to space". On the other hand, if I'm talking about these tracks in general, the guitar solos are the most extraordinary elements. They are grandiose, yet they still feel so abysmal.

Despite the instrumentation not being bad, if it wasn't for the other elements, it would be just a mediocre death metal record. Mostly blazing-fast riffing with occasional mid-tempo section breaking them up. The length of the record is also something to keep in mind. It's not an album that you can just pop in and listen to. The songs don't hold up on their own so the best way to consume this record is by listening to the entire thing all at once. And that's the biggest weakness of it.

Overall this record stands out in the band's discography as the only record that I enjoy. It managed to give me emotions that only Obscura by Gorguts managed to deliver so far (and these are HUGE words). Highly recommended if you have the time to sit down, and enjoy it in its entirety.

There are no highlights because the best way to listen to them is by doing it altogether.

Mithras Take Their Assault to the Stars - 94%

ExNihilos, April 26th, 2010

Continuing where Mithras left off with their debut, Worlds Beyond The Veil takes the listener to an entirely different realm. The cosmic atmosphere and soaring production of Worlds Beyond The Veil help differentiate it from their debut, but when your first release is as good as Forever Advancing...Legions, there's not much you can improve on.

Here we have Mithras doing what they do best: combining atmospherically dense songs with bizarre, technical riffs and structures giving them an otherwordly sound. Perhaps the biggest difference a Mithras fan will notice right off the bat is the different production techniques used on Worlds Beyond The Veil. The riffs all have an echo to them, giving the album that aforementioned “spacey” feel, and the synth is much more subdued than it was on their previous release, which I believe fits this album's theme much better. The drumming is as brutal as ever, and the solos have gotten a lot more developed. There's also a distinct lack of the short interludes that the previous album used to break apart the intensity of it's main offering, instead replacing them with tracks like “Sands Of Time” and “Search The Endless Planes,” where synth and guitar intertwine to bring the listener into the dense sonic soundscape.

The space atmosphere is the second thing any Mithras fan (or new listener for that matter) will notice on Worlds Beyond The Veil. The entire feel of the album is very cosmic and enticing, explorative and yet grand in scope. Thankfully, unlike some more atmospheric bands, the songwriting on Worlds Beyond The Veil doesn't suffer because of this in any way. Mithras continue their aural assault unhindered by such issues, providing the listener with a living, breathing impression of the universe.

Although it might be similar to Mithras' previous work, Worlds Beyond The Veil is still fantastic. The atmosphere alone is enough to take any listener to another plane of existence, but when combined with the crushing drumwork and technical riffing, it can really immerse the listener for the 46 minutes it lasts. Without a weak track on the album it's a very well-developed album by one of my favorite artists.

Worlds Beyond Death Metal - 92%

silenceharmsyourears, October 26th, 2008

There are few bands in extreme metal on the 'death' side of things which have had any deep-thought or meaningful matter to their music other than the usual subjects of hate, death and gore etc; however, this is a band that does! Spawned the son of bands like Bal Sagoth, Morbid Angel etc, they have clearly taken inspiration from the ideas and concepts espoused by such bands and taken them a fairly large step further, whilst still being able to claim they've added their own mark. This album (as per the visuals of the artwork) sounds quite different to their previous, although clearly the same band, and you get the impression they will continue that way – so do not expect an exact round of the previous. You can however expect within reason exactly what the art displays – the sound of omnipotent space in all its wordless beauty, played through and amongst their main genre of extreme metal. Whether you like this album and band or not really depends on how you look at it, and if you are open to having a taste for something quite different, a continuing concept album piece with different styles and sounds mixed together, and whether you think it works or not. The 2 main styles to this album are: Ambient and Progressive Extreme Metal. My assumption is, in their quest for originality they have tried to shake off most standards of what is supposed to be extreme metal, or even music, which as you can imagine is not easy. This would be great, if what they came up with was comprehendible, tasteful, genre-breaking brilliance, but unfortunately this is not quite that. Instead you have a mongrel mix which at times sounds brilliant and others confusingly not. I understand what they are trying to do, but I feel they are not quite achieving it consistently, which for the listener is frustrating. Unfortunately in my opinion, the ratio of brilliant sounding moments is outweighed by good/average ones. All of this is made far worse by the following main negative things which I will detail a little below:

1) Composition - Strange and unconventional but often just clumsy sounding, with too many loud wandering solos and excessively long, poorly assembled ambience
2) Playing - Some of the fastest metal ever, 280bpm+ but often sloppy, not consistent, which makes a muddy mess at times, made much worse due to the next point...
3) Production - The drums are the worst, not a good use of triggering, over processed, toms standout as too loud and robotic/rubbery. With the guitars there is an excessive amount of un-tastefully used reverb and effects.

For the most part all of the above mixed together does not work well for me, it might suit them more if it was stripped down raw thrash/bm DIY style, but as it stands it comes over as an over-polished modern triggered mongrel of sorts, which is fine if you can comprehend and tolerate that, but gets a bit too much at times. I get the impression people either end up wanting more metal or more ambient. For me it's the later, I love the well constructed ambient parts, and their brilliant creative use of guitars usually for creating that ambience. It may upset some people who give it an unknowing listen under the genre of 'death metal' expecting to find nothing but the usual extremely br00tal brutality. While there is plenty of that, its sole purpose it is not - the extremeness is apparently just a vessel to amplify the epic-ness of what is being displayed to your ears!


Overall: Moments of absolute cosmic beauty and genius in ambience, mixed up a little clumsily at times between obscure and confusing extreme metal, made worse by a sub-par playing consistency, odd composition, & not best suited production, with perhaps too much of a try-hard mindset. The ambient pieces would stand out great on their own - without the need to be muddled often badly with br00tal extremely fast death metal. That sums up this band and album to me. Overall it's a very good album indicating the beginning of a great band with fresh ideas and sound that just need to tweak it further to get the right balance and find themselves more. I won’t say anything about the songs themselves because a) they would be hard to describe b) you need to hear them yourself to witness the epic-ness and try comprehend what’s coming through your speakers, which goes something like this: 300bpm chain-gun drumbeats carrying soaring, otherworldly, sonic atmospheres into deep space - commanded over by perhaps the most ‘brutal’ giant-like metal vocals ever, bellowing on top. Anyone who enjoys extreme metal OR esoteric new age music should check this out because it rules in both departments, and if you happen to like both then you are in for a big treat! 9/10

Death Metal Done Right - 95%

EschatonCometh, January 28th, 2008

Originality is something that is highly treasured in the Death Metal scene, and for that reason alone Mithras deserves some credit. Mithras play a style of atmospheric Brutal Death Metal that is essentially unique in the DM scene. The Death Metal backbone of their music is quite obviously inspired by “Blessed Are the Sick”-era Morbid Angel, characterized by pounding, heavy riffs and blasting drums reminiscent of Pete Sandoval’s work behind the kit. The vocalist, Rayner Coss, is quite a bit like Morbid Angel’s David Vincent in terms of tone, although his voice is a bit thicker and less comprehensible. As obviously inspired as Mithras are, it’s an insult to accuse them of worshipping, because their composition remains fairly unique. It’s fairly impressive that Mithras is a two man unit, considering how technical the music is.
The atmosphere on WBTV is designed to evoke mental images of spacial and planar subject matter discussed in the lyrical content. Think along the lines of Nocturnus, except with synthesizers that are completely different in tone. The guitars are dense and pinch-heavy for the most part, creating ascending and descending melodies that are interesting, because they flow into the atmospheric synth, which is especially noticeable during the solos. The soloing is genuinely written to flow into the songs well, as opposed to the pointless wankery found in plenty of bands. The drumming is typically kept on beat with the guitars, which adds a powerful accent to the guitar playing, helping to create the dense atmosphere that pervades WBTV. While not exactly technical, the guitars shift enough to keep the listener interested. The same can be said of the drums, which are mostly blastbeat heavy, with some interesting and consistently original fills. The vocals are a big highlight, featuring a range of everything from mocking laughs to the insanity found on tracks like “Beyond the Eyes of Man” that include three different vocal tracks on one section of the song, adding in variety and insanity. Mostly, Coss uses a mocking, arrogant growl that flows well with Mithras’ grandiose music. The bass work is pretty much unnoticeable except in a few sections, but there are no issues regarding wonky tone or flat out bad playing, so I can’t really criticize.
Mithras are pretty damn good songwriters. WBTV is incredibly well paced, starting off with an atmospheric track “Portal of the…”, which helps acclimate the listener to the death metal onslaught that begins on the title track. The album continues in a fast paced death metal fashion until “Break the Worlds Divide”, another atmospheric track that manages to add variety and show off Mithras’ skill as composers. I have to laud the track “Psyrens”, because I believe it is the perfect blend of atmospherics and death metal that Mithras have created on WBTV. It starts out with a beautiful synth track that sounds like a bunch of women singing next to the sea, like “Sirens”, as the name of the track alludes to. After this song, WBTV takes a pretty laid back approach until the last three tracks, which are heavier and uptempo. Finally, WBTV closes with the 13:00 epic “Beyond the Eyes of Man”, which fades out much like the album began.
“Worlds Beyond the Veil” is notable not only because it is unique, but because it features some of the best songwriting ever in a death metal album. The transitions between songs and sections are quite flawless, and Mithras pull it off very well considering the album’s length. The production is fuzzy, adding to the atmosphere of the album. However, it’s not so thick that it corrupts the clarity and tone of the instruments. For the advanced extreme Metal listener, Worlds Beyond the Veil is a must hear, and in my opinion an album worth buying. If you want something unique and well executed, this album is a must.
Standout Track: Psyrens

Mithras - Worlds Beyond the Veil - 83%

Seraphim_Belial, October 22nd, 2007

With Worlds Beyond the Veil, only two words pop into my head: Morbid Angel. Now, I like Morbid Angel (don’t get me wrong), but when I pick up a cd that doesn’t have Morbid Angel’s logo (and starts with a “W” no less), I’m expecting it to be…different. What I heard however, was extremely familiar…

Morbid Angel comparisons aside though, this album has elements of it that are undeniably beautiful. The guitars tones evoke images of the heavens weeping at the manifestation of Yog-Sothoth itself throughout the entire album. The drums have a muffled feel to them, but it won’t matter much because the primary method of skill employed is just blasting anyway. The only instrument that doesn’t fit this mix is the singer; the preferred vocal style here would have been anything from black screeches to curly death rattles; what is given though is a combination of old school death vocals and shouting (reminiscent of a gruffy Jamey Jasta meets Steve Tucker). In any case, the vocals don’t impede on the overall ethereal (yet majestic) feel of this album… too much (they do irritate after a while though), which is the prime motivation to keep getting absorbed into this work. The final outcome is a magnificently rendered piece of craftsmanship, which will more than likely have many people anxiously awaiting the next release from this band.

It’s not quite Lustmord, it’s not quite Morbid Angel; but it’s definitely a solid.

Incredible, a very different take on death metal. - 90%

boboy, January 16th, 2007

I approached Mithras' second full length not quite knowing what to expect, only with a few passing recommendations from various people, and an instant attraction to the wonderful cover art, I semi anticipated an average melodic death album, rife with generic riffs and other cliche genre trademarks. It turns out I was wrong, dead wrong. The soundscape that Mithras create on Worlds Beyond The Veil is astounding, effortlessly blending death metal with progressive and art-rock and painting a picture that really reflects the epic space theme that the album revolves around.

The album begins with an almost eerie instrumental track about 6 minutes in length, with pulsing feedback and swirling mecahnical sounds creating a tension that something is about to come, and it certainly does. The title track comes roaring in with squealing harmonics and blastbeats. The synthesisers however, instead of simply ambling away and laying dormant until the next instrumental, as is all too common on modern death metal album, they remain behind the frantic tech riffing giving a strange ambience in the brutality of it all, and odd experience that I can only compare to the atmosphere on the Elvenfris album by Czech prog deathers Lykathea Aflame. Despite the often dissonant and chaotic riffs, the heavier moments of the album seem almost relaxing, and I think it is this that makes the album so enjoyable, as rather than shifting between two extremes of dynamics that so many bands employ to break up albums into digestible chunks, Mithras instead dissolve their softer moments into their more brutal, perhaps diluting the death metal edge of the album slightly, but more importantly enabling the album to flow as beautiful as it does.

The major gripe that a lot of Mithras listeners have had with this album is the production. Yes, it is very very remniscent of Morbid Angel's Heretice (an album that I am also a fan of) and yes, at times the production is tinny and blurred, but to me this adds to the feel and the theme of the disc. As previously mentioned, this is no headbanger's dream CD full of bone crunching anthems, and as such it doesn't require a ludicrously bass heavy production and ripping guitar tone, its very much a sit and listen disc, and as such I think the floaty and distant tone suits the album down to the ground. The vocals however do not earn so much praise, they're adequate and have their moments (They Came And You Were Silent being the strongest vocal performance) but over all, they are drowned behind the guitars and keyboards, which is a shame as Coss's growled vocals are very clear and distinguishable and would have better showcased the lyrical talents of the band much more effectively if they were just nudged up in the mix ever so slightly.

Other than the underproduced vocals, there is only one problem I have with this album, and that is the latter stage of the album. After a strong first half, the listener is invited into a lengthy atmospheric synth build up, which as beautiful and effective as it is, doesn't really lead anywhere, and this is very much the same story for the remaining tracks on the album. Death metal songs which start off promisingly are too often broken down into soundscapes, only to be followed by more soundscape, before culminating to what could have made this album perfect, an epic closer. In fact, Beyond The Eyes of Man's 13+ minutes contains, yep, you guessed it, about 3 minutes of metal and 10 minutes of atmospheric outro synth, leaving a slighty sour taste in the mouth, but fortunately done tastefully enough to keep the listener interested right until the end.

Overall, I stand by my opinion that this is very much a listener's album. The stand alone songs that do feature any level of heaviness are not brutal or catchy by any means, and the 20+ minutes of atmospheric soundscape may throw off some people, but this album is indeed an incredible listen, and a very different take on death metal that shows how versatile a tried and tested concept can be if applied to a different role.

90%

Mithras Angel? - 65%

Perpetual_Winter, April 2nd, 2005

Where should I start with this promising travesty? What? What the hell is a promising travesty? Well, I’m not about to start quoting the dictionary (I’ve done that in the past already), but Mithras “Worlds Beyond the Veil” is definitely a great example. I guess first I’ll start out by saying Mithras is not Morbid Angel. They sure as hell try to be Morbid Angel, but they are not. The CD starts out with a 6:16 second Morbid Angelesque atmospheric intro that is completely unnecessary. In fact they seem to have a serious problem with these atmospheric moments on the CD. This problem lies in the fact that these atmospheric intros, tracks, interludes, whatever, take up 26 minutes and 13 seconds of the 67 minute 37 second long album. It got to the point where I would just be skipping the ends of, or entire, tracks wondering where the hell is the metal. Its just overkill, much like the last half of the most recent Morbid Angel album “Heretic.”

Now when you get to the music and it sounds a lot like, guess what…
Morbid Angel! I bet you didn’t see that coming. Mithras has pretty much mastered Morbid Angel’s style from “Formulas Fatal to the Flesh.” I mean they are so close at times I bet I could convince some metalheads, even some more educated metalheads, that this is unreleased Morbid Angel from that era. Though the production is definitely lacking compared to their biggest influence you can still tell that they have it down to a “T” from guitar tone to the sound of the drum triggers. Really they are quite good at it. Well, the vocals are lacking at times. Vocalist Rayner Cross tends to rely on a “tough guy” yell (ala ex-Cryptopsy throat Mike DiSalvo) more than an actual growl throughout most of the album. That is definitely a personal gripe I have about some death metal bands. I want to hear low gutteral growls, but not those resembling animals such as pigs. My only complaint about their Morbid Angel style, outside of the fact that its just way too close, is that the solos on this album sounding all to similar because of the lack of scales used.

Taking a look at the recording and production. It’s about what you’d expect from a band on such a small label. You can tell they really didn’t have a lot of money or time to put into it so I can over look that. However, the triggering of every drum annoys me. Damn it, straight up death metal should not have entirely triggered drums in recording. I don’t like them live either, but they definitely serve a purpose. The drumming on this album though proficient just sounds fake because of the triggers. I don’t understand why, when you have control over every aspect of the sound and time to work with it one feels the need to use the triggers as a crutch. Though if there isn’t too much help from the triggers I think Leon Macey, drummer, lead guitarist, drummer and from what I gather main songwriter, is one of the best guitarist/drummers I’ve heard in a long time and makes Vital Remains’ Dave Suzuki look like an amateur (okay not really, but Macey is really good).

The songwriting on this album leaves something to be desired. I mean they can clearly put together songs decent songs, but they just have no real identity of their own. One song in particular grates on me to no end. “Psyrens” started out and I thought, “Damn this sounds familiar.” Got home and whipped out Morbid Angel’s Domination and sure as shit the main riff in “Psyrens” is the first riff of the song “Dominate.” I don't necessarily care if you wear your influences openly on your sleeve. Hell, if you are going to intentionally incorporate a small riff here and there from someone else as a tribute or because it just sounds good that’s fine. But when you take a riff from another album and use it as your feature riff, its just plain sad. What I find even sadder is that this is, according to Mithras’ website http://www.mithras.org.uk, is one of Macey’s favorite songs. Here is what he had to say about it, “This song came through in one hour of it's own accord. The "solos" on this track on the album are the original conciousless ideas from that one hour.” Yeah, it’s easy to write a song in an hour when you are stealing a main riff. I lose a lot of respect for bands that do this.

Now for the “promising” part of this promising travesty. Mithras is a young band (Coss is 23 and Macey is 24) so if they continue to expand on this sound, that Morbid Angel abandoned within their own progression, they could really be an interesting and relevant band in the scene. They absolutely demonstrate instrumental ability rivaling many of the greats, but they just need time to mature in song writing (um… Psyrens anyone?) and to develop an identity of their own. I really do look forward to hearing future releases from this band. I just hope the next one isn’t so damn pretentious with those damn atmospheric parts.

“Fantasies lead to creativity”… - 98%

High_On_Maiden, May 11th, 2004

That is the final word that Leon Macey - one half of the experimental death metal band Mithras - had to say in this album’s booklet. How right he was…

First things first, this is not the album that Terrorizer claimed it to be. NO album is. But it’s not far off. This album is a refreshing and truly innovative work of art. The theme throughout is clearly cosmic, sc-fi/fantasy type issues and one can also observe a discreet concept moving through the album. Lyrically, songs such as The Caller and the Listener, They Came and You Were Silent, Lords and Masters and so on seem to have a theme of humans crying out to their gods and their call being answered not by their deities but by a superior alien race or creature, or at least that’s how I interpret it. “Man called to them and they have come” and “You know not what your exaltations have unleashed” being just two examples of this idea. Certainly a nice change from other themes, and one that is strongly supported by the music itself, with a mix of brooding, warp-like instrumentation and epic, brutal blasts of energy.

For a non-stop, unrelenting opus you may wish to look elsewhere, as the various long instrumental sections do fragment the album somewhat. I feel however that this adds to the flow of the music rather than breaking it up, and it is a piece of music that is varied, beautiful and very thoughtful. The production in some ways is the main weakness of the recording, as it certainly takes a bit of getting used to. It’s somewhat muddy and quiet, but I quickly got used to it and I don’t feel it in any way detracts from the music.

The songs on this album and the musical skills with which they are delivered are at a very high standard, and particularly so given the fact that Mithras is essentially a two-man project – Rayner Coss on vocals and bass, and Leon Macey on guitars and drums. The latter in particular seems extremely competent in both roles, with his exciting, electrical riffs truly dancing as they dictate each piece, and the machine-like, brutal percussive battery hurling each track along with furious blast beats, double bass barrages and tom breaks. The vocals are a semi-deep shout which deliver the well written vocals in a commanding and powerful way, and some sections are delivered slightly deeper, more raspy or with echo effect. I’m not sure if I’m 100% keen on the vocals as opposed to a deeper more guttural roar, but they work well nonetheless.

Each track has an interesting if not particularly varied feel to it, with the riffs in particular having a slightly unorthodox air reminiscent of older Morbid Angel in their frantic jumpiness, with a constant focus on hop-skotching bends and squeals which boost the astral themes along with simultaneous echoing effects and sweeping, drawn out synthesised passages.

Listening to this album is like drifting into the galaxies portrayed in the album art and the lyrics! It sounds childish perhaps, but that is the feeling I have often got when listening to it, and indeed I have often drifted off to sleep when lying down and listening to it. In fact, for this reason it is often the case that I don’t hear much of the later tracks as a result, which is not recommended as the songs are consistent and maintain the concept right to the fading end.

Comparisons to other bands are unnecessary and in fact difficult, as Mithras hold their own in a unique style they define with this recording. It’s admittedly not the perfect album which Terrorizer raved about as much as they did, but what is? It’s without a doubt one of my favourites. The production is initially not too promising, but the distant elements actually in some ways increase the overall impact of it somehow. The vocals are a matter of preference, but I do feel they fit the music and convey the lyrics well. There is not immense variety between songs, with the same musical ideas being pretty constant throughout, but I approach it more as a single piece of music rather than individual tracks – indeed several tracks merge together anyway, or pick up lyrically where the last left off.

This album is a fantasy journey of an epic nature, delivered with great talent, vision and originality. It can be appreciated and enjoyed on various levels, and it certainly is by me…

Fantasies lead to creativity. Hail Mithras!

Atmospheric, brutal, technical...it has it all. - 93%

Spawnhorde, March 26th, 2004

These guys REALLY know how to make an atmosphere, and I don't even CARE about the synthesizer presets they used. This is both bone-chillingly creepy and face-rupturingly frenetic, unsettlingly chilling and mind-numbingly fast and technical.

Adverbs aside, this album is really fucking amazing. The first track, 'Portal To The...' is a 6 minute "instrumental". Right from the first...oh...4 or so minutes you can tell this ain't going to be your normal death metal release. And from that thought stems the wonderful question..."What kind of album WILL it be, then?" Draw your own conclusions, but I bet you won't be ready for the next track. The title track is BLISTERINGLY fast, starting with a nice bass roll, and leading to some good riffing. Throughout each song, there is always this curtain of spacey "out there" keyboards. They're not by any means the fruity kind we see in some bands, namely power and Gothenburg melo-death bands, but they are instead just an absolute screen of sound that drones on while the drums churn out insane blastbeats and double-bass. Some will consider this actual "brutal death metal". The vocals aren't "teh burpz0rz" or whatever you like to call brutal death vocals, but rather, very deep, thick growls.

Each song is very different, and the album doesn't get stale while you're listening, which is good because it is relatively long and has some interesting instrumental pieces.

By the time you get to the best track on the album, you'll have already listened to 6 of the other tracks. That being said, the best track, 'Psyrens" completely BLOWS away any notion you had of the album at first.

'Psyrens' starts off with very soothing and calm wave sound effects and some nice synth work, promptly leading into THE most skullfucking riff on the album. This song is seen by me as the obvious juxtaposition of beuty and brutality of the album, showcasing some mean-as-fuck vocals and some of the craziest technical drumming you'll ever hear in death metal.

This album also deserves heavy praise for its lyrics. I'm a sucker for sci-fi/fantasy lyrics in death metal (see Nocturnus, etc.), and this album delivers the goods. The album seems to have a feel of a sort of musical chase-scene. The narrator (or narrator's race) seems to be being chased by an entity that is crossing the "World's Divide". Read the lyrics and try to figure them out yourself. Also some wonderful album art.

Overall this album just completely batters your head in with no mercy while letting you come out of your neck every now and then to witness the pulchritude that are...the Worlds Beyond The Veil.

Mithras - Worlds Beyond the Veil - 30%

Jackie, December 22nd, 2003

Mithras
Worlds Beyond the Veil
2003

Leon Macey - Guitar
Rayner Coss - Vocals, Bass
Ben White - Drums
Lee du-Caine: Lead guitar

Up until recently, I have taken Terrorizer's word and checked out bands I normally would have skipped. Up until recently, I hadn't been disappointed by taking the advice of those on the Terrorizer staff. With this in mind, I picked up the recent issue of Terrorizer and was amazed to see that a death metal band had gotten a perfect ten on their new album. I'd never heard of the band Mithras, so I thought, what the hell, why not check them out based on this wonderful review full of positive adjectives and analogies.

The UK has impressed me over the past few years with bands like Akercocke releasing somewhat decent albums. I've always loved Anathema, Anaal Nathrakh and My Dying Bride, all great bands from the UK, and more recently, a band called Gorerotted which completely blew me away. So, with all of these things the UK had going for it, I fearlessly searched for the new Mithras album, failed, enlisted the help of a dear friend, and finally had the album on my computer. Bring on the brutal death metal with the insane blast beats! Give me my goddamn top shelf UK death metal, pip-pip, cheerio, God save the Queen, etc.

And what I heard made me cry and I had a brand new CD-R frisbee.

Terrorizer: I suspect there will be some shaking heads in disapproval, but witness its sheer power, gargantuan scale, and the mind-melting sounds and you'll be scraping yourself up off the floor afterwards in shocked awe and you will testify.

Oh yes, my friend, there is plenty of head shaking going on here. Where is this sheer power I'm supposed to be witnessing? I can't hear shit through the production which is just horrible. Gargantuan scale? Yes, but I think I'd call it Golgothan scale because this whole thing is shit. Plain and simple.

I am shocked, yes, I really am.

The best part of this album is the opening track, which, of course, is an instrumental. It's almost impossible to have a shitty instrumental on a death metal album. Why? Because it's easy to mask shitty production when all you're using are the pretty presets on a synthesizer. You either turn the volume up or down to mix the sound together. Congratulations, you've made a wonderful instrumental. Very pretty.

Unfortunately, the second track introduces us to the band and ruins the atmosphere. 'Worlds Beyond the Veil', the title track, sounds an awful lot like early Morbid Angel, until the vocals kick in. The drums are all you can hear until some god-awful noise kicks in and suddenly you're whisked away to a land where crickets, gnomes and bees are subect to the most hideous forms of torture of a band that wants to succeed where other have failed...and fails.

The only part of this album worthy of praise is the guitar work because truthfully, that's where the bulk of the talent in the band lies. There really isn't much to say about it. You can hear the guitars. They obviously know how to play. Typical death metal.

Terrorizer: Can you imagine the subject of the cosmos portrayed with such extreme conviction and power within the construct of music more attuned to darker themes? Hell, it matches the power of Nile in imagery and ability to captivate and compel, making it as relevant as any subject matter in extreme metal.

Comparing Mithras to Nile is like comparing Morbid Angel to AC/DC. Nile has a unique sound and they're heavy. Nile is all about capturing imagery and painting a picture of a civilization long gone, buried in the past by the turmoil and suffering of its people. Nile is innovative enough so that they stick out. Mithras just comes across as a band holding onto the success of other bands and hoping they can ride their way into stardom, or at least out of the underground death metal scene. What Mithras is trying to portray through their cosmic riffs and instrumentals has already been done by bands like Morbid Angel and Bal-Sagoth, and say what you will, both bands do it better.

Mithras blends into the rest of the death metal scene. The only thing that makes them stand out is the fact that they aren't as heavy as most death metal bands...not by a long shot.

If the true purpose of music is to move the listener, Mithras has succeeded. Unfortunately, the only emotion it moves in me makes me want to vomit, and that's only a good thing if the band you're listening to is Regurgitate.

Because then puking makes sense.

Tracks:
01: Potral to the...
02: Worlds Beyond the Veil
03: The Caller and the Listener
04: Break the Worlds Divide
05: Lords and Master
06: Psyrens
07: Voices in the Void
08: The Sands of Time
09: Search the Endless Planes
10: They Came and You Were Silent
11: Transcendence
12: Beyond the Eyes of Man