Beyond Grace have been somewhat of a criminally under-sung entity within the festering organism that is the national UK death metal scene for quite some time now. However, their new EP doesn’t quite attract attention as much as it practically demands it.
The first of a trifecta of EPs that are set to be bounded within a full length record next year, Welcome To The New Dark Ages Part I comes following two respective full lengths from the Notts prog death metal collective. Releasing following 2017’s Seekers and 2021’s Our Kingdom Undone respectively, whilst see these two LPs where certainly aggregable slabs of modern and progressive death metal, in hindsight, they only seem to the originating sparks that have incited the incendiary fury that this is new EP. Raging with a sense of utmost urgency and containing the modern and forward-thinking density of acts such as Conjurer, Abysmal Dawn and Omnivortex, the first part of this trio is an EP that demands to be heard.
The first of the four song salvo that comprises this EP, ‘The Burning Season’ rings true to it’s namesake in a manner most profound. Remorseless as it is inconsolable, the track sounds like it would be utterly at home within any Conjurer record to date. Quite frankly, as it’s central riffs viscerally pendulum between lacerating and bludgeoning, the track heralds the sound of a band inspired; epically with it’s respective breakdown sounding positively primordial. ‘Buyer’s Remorse’ continues such a sentiment with the song sounding akin to a beehive – originally dormant for this winter – being rudely engulfed by firestorm that the proceeding track conjures.
Of course, to draw parallels within the sound of this EP to their counterparts aforementioned would be easy. After all, this is a modern death metal record – it doesn’t aim to break convention nor reinvent the wheel that has rolled steadily for years now. However, what makes Welcome To The New Dark Ages Part I so brilliant is just how genuinely urgent, passionate and volatile it sounds. In a time where many death metal sounds upon our soil are rehashing tropes out of obligation, this EP sounds animated and vivid. As the third track ‘Misinfodemic’ and it’s contrasting melodic leads bare witness to, Beyond Grace are not creating music out of tired diligence here, but out of artistic and urgent requirement for themselves.
The final track of this EP is one that solidifies such a fact. A cover of Peter Gabriel’s ‘Here Comes The Flood’, here Beyond Grace wonderfully allow their more melodic and brooding sounds to take permeance. It’s a left-field inclusion for sure, but with the cover standing majestic and allowing the band to display their terrific control of density in a new soundstage, the cover is not only a testament to their ability as musicians but a merit to their passion. In all, Welcome To The New Dark Ages Part I is a tantalising taste of the fiery things set to come from this band in the new year. We may be collectively entering a new dark age, but for Beyond Grace, they are entering a new and blessed chapter of their career.