Beyond the Infinite Horizon

I'm going to start this review with a bang : Aphasia's first EP is a little gem. When I bought this record about fifteen years ago, it was already a couple of years old. I discovered the band through a compilation of Canadian metal bands, the song featured was "The Bright Sphere of Forest" and it immediately caught my attention. The little biography in that "Into the Blizzard" compilation refers to them as dark and black metal, to which I disagree. I think their style is closer to the Gothenburg sound and puts them in the melodic death metal category. With that said, I'm one of the lucky few who bought their EP and kept it safe all these years. Even though I had not listened to it in quite a while, I like it as much now as I used to when I first got it.

All four songs on this record are strong. Without being slow this band never crosses a threshold of speed that would allow us to say they're fast. In comparison to the Swedish big names of the genre it is closer to early In Flames and Dawn rather than At The Gates. They are also much less flashy on the guitars but the melodies, the really nice bass work and dual vocal attack creates a nice blend that will certainly please many. Thematically the band does not reinvent the wheel (nature, dark thoughts, etc.) but the feel of the vocals do give emotions to the whole thing.

The music is very melodic with nice instrumental parts. The songs are well written with breathing spaces and silences that are often followed by an emphasis on one of the string instruments. These instrumental parts do allow for vocals to make a bigger impact whenever present. If anything negative can be said about the songs is that they all share these same characteristics, one could find that they are too similar at first. Nevertheless all four of them are very enjoyable and if talking to a friend about them you just have to be more creative than saying : "the one with the bass part".

A quick word on the overall sound and production, if you're into the old Swedish melodic death sound, when it was still dirty and not over produced, this would definitely catch your attention. Not to say that this is badly mixed or produced, it sounds pretty good, all instruments and vocals are heard quite clearly, if anything it is a bit dry. Still a job well done by the band and engineer/producer Jean-François Dagenais of Kataklysm fame.

In conclusion, it's probably hard to find an actual copy nowadays but if you can, and it does not cost you all your beer money, then get it.

Aphasia have managed the difficult task of finding their own unique path without ever once deviating from the realms of metal. The music is so pure it could be called true black metal simply because of what it lacks; there is no multi-layering, keyboards, effects, samples, orchestras, guest appearances or kitchen sinks. Any band can add elements of another genre to attain originality but Aphasia don't resort to any tricks. This is pure metal from start to finish. It is very refreshing to listen to and has held up well against the passage of time. There is a lot of duality to Beyond the Infinite Horizon (BIH). While the black metal element is obvious, it could also be called melodic death metal due to the flowing riffs and a precision performance. Two contradictory aesthetics indeed, but they have created a seamless hybrid and thankfully stayed far away from the generic Gothenburg sound. The production uses the best parts of both styles, bare-bones yet crystal clear allowing every note to shine through. The trio work together on the same rhythms and adapt to the varied tempo changes together making for very focused songs. Never resorting to the verse-chorus formula, each track feels like a well crafted journey.

The bass is what separates BIH from it's piers. The bass is of equal importance and presence as the guitars. A rarity in metal. In the slower moments you may even think you're listening to Iron Maiden. Guitars are up-tempo and melodic without ever sounding happy or silly. The duality is most noticeable in the vocal approach which is split equally between Jean-Francois and Steph. One has an early 90s Florida death metal-ish growl and the other utilizes a harsh scream similar to Varg from early Burzum. They are constantly doing trade-offs, often line for line making for a very dynamic approach. All the while the clangy snare and rumbling bass drums are always at just the right tempo to add punch to the riffs.

I only wish there was more of it. Clocking in at 25:33 it's a short listen. The only thing BIH lacks is solos. It's the one element that could have made this even better.

I was lucky enough to see them preform live before they split up, when they toured for BIH. I was impressed at how close they sounded to the studio versions. The drummer chain-smoked through the whole set, with the embers glowing brighter the faster he played!

There's not a lot more I can say about a four track EP, except this is one of the most interesting releases to ever come out of Quebec.