Towards the Diabolical Experiment

This band are a relatively obscure entry into the death/doom metal fodder from The Netherlands although their two opuses are really impressive slabs of gloom and darkness, highly recommended for fans of the genre(s); and members of the band later took part in the foundation of the progressive death metal stalwarts The Monolith Deathcult. In fact, these guys were first on the scene with this seismic blend even before Orphanage themselves, second only to the pioneers Sempiternal Deathreign and of course the legends The Gathering.

The album reviewed here is a volcanic lava of heavy ship-sinking riffs which for most of the time are pure unadulterated doom with a sorrowful, mournful aura as evident from the exemplary “Shapes of Sorrow” which moves forward in a somewhat monotonous, but steady hypnotic fashion superseded by the more dynamic and more melodic “Stranded” which contains a great main catchy mid-paced riff-pattern. At this stage the musical approach is vintage epic doom the only relation to the death metal community being the gruff growling vocals. “The Nameless” acquires more ambitious progressive proportions with a more frequent change of tempos and moods, nothing even remotely resembling headbanging rhythms, but interesting enough with several intense mid-paced passages tearing the silence save for the brilliant atmospheric exit. Nothing of the kind on the elegiac funereal “Fade Away”, or on the officiant high-octane hymn “Prophetic Countdown” the latter a template on which acts like My Dying Bride and Theatre of Tragedy have modelled entire careers. “Kissing in XTC” is the epitome of seismic patient, not very diverse but effective, doom which lasts unperturbed for nearly 9-min, with a great more dynamic accumulation mid-way, arguably the most interesting moment on the album and not because it differs from the slightly one-dimensional delivery of the prevalent layout; with the excellent melodic leads ensuring the more lyrical respite. “The Finishing Touch” comes in the form of another slab of primal classic doom with beautiful melodic motifs circling around, giving the academic solemn delivery a nice ethereal flavour.

There are a couple of short all-instrumental etudes in-between songs, some of them balladic and serene, others containing an element of doominess; their purpose isn’t very clear except as momentary pauses from the sea of doom which here is literally never-ending even rivalling Candlemass and Saint Vitus, trying to beat them at their own game with these most antediluvian doomy tunes imaginable. The death metal crowd has nothing to look for here unlike on the early works of My Dying Bride and The Gathering, for instance, where the deathy dynamics were quite tangible. It remained to be seen whether the band would be able to preserve these murky depths on future affairs… well, the sophomore was a different beast the guys justifying the “death” from their tag with more vivid, more energetic rhythms some of which could definitely pass for headbangable. Some may consider this swansong the better offering as the ponderous, charmingly repetitive nature of the album here could be tiresome to some. However, those looking for doom with a capital D should look no further than this “diabolical experiment” which married death and doom in a way that made them the envy of the underground, and not only.

The reformation in 2004 was supposed to bring more bleak, dark landscapes to the unsuspecting masses, but apart from a bunch of compilations, mostly containing tracks from their early demos, the guys failed to produce anything more substantial before they disbanded again in 2012. No more potential propitious marriages looming on the horizon… just death and doom.

Holland seemed to produce a bevy of doom/death metal bands in the early 90s. Led by acts like Sempiternal Deathreign and Asphyx; the scene arguably produced the most complete collection of doom/death metal ever.

After a gloomy intro we are greeted with a slow and crawling opener. Shapes of Sorrow and its intro track introduce us to Sabbath-esque riffs gone mad and some semi-tasteful keys. A.J. van Drenth's key style seems to be the gloomy haunting one that you would expect from such a record. While some bands of the era eschewed the keyboards, Beyond Belief deals with them well and tastefully. Guitarist Robbie Woning even adds some well-placed accordion to the opening track and in other parts. The album features four keyboard and guitar interludes. And while they are still rather cheesy, they aren't unwelcome as are many interludes found on albums like this. They don't seem merely to be tracks for the musicians here to meander and noodle. Each one has a different haunting-type atmosphere.

I think one flaw of the album is its intensity level. Everything here is heavy and morbid but the mastering lacks a bit of punch that would be required to achieve the levels of intensity that I would prefer on an album like this. Vocalist van Drenth has a good register. They mess around with some harmonizing "demonlike" vocal effects in the production. It might have sounded original back in the day but it sounds silly nowadays. It always stays just rough enough around the edges to prevent it from being a classic.

Ultimately the band plods around too much. There are good riffs, but not enough riff variations. It sounds hopless and bleak but does nto necessarily charm with its hopelessness. They consistently play the same Sabbath-gone-death riffs for the entire album only straying into slightly faster death metal grooves at times and only pretty presenting a few melodic lead passages. The use of the accordion is tasteful but it would have been better to add the haunting sounds of the interludes to bolster the album's production value. There also is a lack of decent soloing. While this style by no means needs soloing, when they do it here it adds variation to the music that is much-needed.

Recommended tracks: Shapes of Sorrow, The Nameless, Fade Away.