Andrew DuncanAnagnorisis – Beyond All Light (Independent)
★★★★
Like the air getting sucked out from under your breath, Anagnorisis returns with the fury you could only expect from a Gothenburg black metal band. Only this band is not from Sweden but Kentucky, and the roar these guys make is mere tornadic activity from the Midwest.
In 2007, Anagnorisis made their debut, giving us a glimpse of their apocalyptic hell. In the six years that has followed … there were two EPs (Alpha and Omega and Ghosts of Our Fathers) but nothing of significance until now. It’s hard to recall just what Anagnorisis intentions were to begin with and with two disjointed releases, that distinction has been lost..
Beyond All Light is a good album in a different context as Overton Trees was a good album in its own context. More aptly produced, the sophomore release shows a moving experience of harsh and blinding riffs subdued by intermittent waves of atmospheric calm.
Beyond All Light Promo
“This Cursed Blood” sounds like you are listening to a great hardcore metal song while sticking your head out of a moving vehicle doing 90 mph. And “Death Mimics Life” is so extreme it feels fabricated—the only thing that humanistically poses as being real is Zachary Kerr’s vocals.
Spliced into two epic parts, these five members are in complete control of your listening destiny. As raucous as “Death Mimics Life” feels, it’s like emerging from the ashes of a city desolated into catastrophe. What you once knew does not pertain to anything now. Their discovery is in the way Western Civilization wants to destroy itself. The fall of Pompeii and all that’s left is you standing in the abyss. It is a perfect transition into the song of the same title of underlying haunting tranquility. But even that does not last for long as the band explodes into utter screaming and sheets of sound coming at you.
This is how Part II begins. And the songs seem to get more extreme while becoming more progressive in shape. They experiment with a driving rhythmic structure instead of standing power. They want to take you somewhere, a place you have never gone and a level of consciousness that you cannot get to without the help of this band at this level. It’s what “Bountiful Godless Life” gives us. The band brings in a prominent synth sound that bears resemblance to the backdrop of an amusement park ride.
But here is where an album like this is worth every penny. “Bountiful Godless Life” ends with overtoned guitar harmonies that bleed into “Forever Night,” an almost 10 minute epic wrapped around itself. The band leaves us with their best foot forward and encapsulates an incredible experience.