Beyond The Gates
Soul Crisis

First effort for the Venetian band Beyond The Gates, a young group from the province of Padua that, in just seven songs, manages to offer the listener a brief half-hour of direct but well-thought-out metal. Their artistic variety is not easily found these days in extreme metal. Indeed, Beyond The Gates skillfully and intelligently combine the foundations of North-European death metal with a brutal hardcore attitude, extreme progressive elements, and the ferocity of black metal. The guitar work is truly remarkable and is enhanced by engaging vocal dynamics that fit well with each riff.

The album begins with a neo-classical and haunting intro named “Whoracle”, followed by the title track of the album, “Soul Crisis”, which is rhythmically modern and easily grasped. The following two tracks, “Seven” and “Nine”, mark the most aggressive part of the entire work. The first in pure Swedish death style, the second influenced by a fast-paced and violent hardcore. “The Black Hole Holocaust” is decidedly more prog compared to the previous tracks. The finale offers one last assault of malice dictated by the melodic death/black of “The Remains Of God” and a more catchy and emotional track like “Insomnia”, just to leave some anticipation for the next album.

We leave this EP with the hope that the audio production improves drastically because, unfortunately, it does not do justice to a demo written and performed so well, and for this reason, it becomes a penalty that can only partially be overlooked, although overall the CD should be praised because, despite there being two or three standout songs, the remaining ones do not lower the musical level and flow with pleasure. Beyond The Gates possess excellent technical and compositional abilities, the passion and dedication to continue doing well and improving over time, and additionally, they have the right inspiration to never fall into the banal, even often incorporating various contaminations and solutions, perhaps not loved by everyone, but that will allow their music to evolve and renew over time. These are not very frequent characteristics today, and “Soul Crisis” perfectly encapsulates them.