Beyond Twilight - The Devil's Hall of Fame

Beyond Twilight began life simply as Twilight. "Eye For An Eye" was decent stuff, certainly not the kind of thing to bang your head estatically about, but compared with the slew of Italian cheese metallers to come crawling out of the woodwork lately, Twilight sounded alot better in comparision than they should have. A singer change later, they tacked "Beyond" to their name and decided to set out in a new direction. Gone is the cheesy power poofs and instead they present us with a plate filled to overflowing with ambient but quite heavy progressive metal that can be described as a rough cross between the murkiness of Abstrakt Algebra, the atmosphere of Ayreon, the power and majesty of Symphony X, and more than your fair share of pure doom with a gothic influence. A potent mix when shaken, not stirred. Luckily they shake it up nicely resulting in a fairly even blend of heavy metal. Dark and brooding, the music itself is a nice journey, but a strong singer was desperately needed to take on the vocal duties.....

Enter Jorn Lande. For the past couple of years, this singer extraordinaire has not ceased to amaze me. From the David Coverdale mimicking performance with The Snakes, to the jazzy prog workout of Ark, and the hard rock trappings of Millenium inbetween (not to mention his solo career and a few other bands he's been involved with) Lande has covered most of the bases with style and finesse, but the one area that had remained unexplored has now been conquered.

Some say this is his best performance thus far, but others (including myself) still cling to his recent guestspot as one of a million vocalists on Nikolo Kotzev's ambitious "Nostradamus" project. However, if I were to choose a second example that best represents the diversity and power of his pipes, this would be it. Undeniably, he has managed to step up to the pedestal of the vocal gods, and this cd gives us many reasons as to why and how he achieved the climb to the top in such a short period of time. Smooth as butter, rippling with energy and majestic power and able to build from one emotion only to explode into another, he brings inspiration, utter and devestating sorrow and a sense of wonder to each and every line. He makes each word count, with a tone that stands out among the many layers of instruments that are each attempting to bury one another, but his voice rises far and above, ringing perfect and true. Then there is the overpowering intensity, where he sucks you into a hellpit of nightmares, ripping out screams and enraged snarls. A variety indeed, but all extremes are necessary to help map out this project.

But "The Devil's Hall of Fame" was not written by Lande, he's merely the singer, so some review space must be given to the composer of all this wonderfully proggy goth-tastic stuff, which is keyboardist Finn Zierler. He decided to hammer out a decent concept as well as a musically interesting piece, the story revolving around a computer hacker of sorts who (for reasons I could only begin to guess) decides to hack into the complex system that is his brain. As he delves into the inner depths, he makes a few discoveries that he probably wishes he hadn't.

1.] "Hellfire"
The cheesy opening should have been left out. Seriously. This is some truly terrible voice acting that puts the listener in the position of either being completely irritated by the below B movie level absurdity of it all or else cracked up into laughing hysterics about it. Whether you laugh, cry or ball up into anger over the awfulness this cd begins on, whatever you do, don't give up yet, because after the computer and the main character finish jabbering at each other, things pick up considerably from there. Words simply cannot describe the vocals on this one. Simply put however, they drown out the musical backing expertly, with an inner sense of power that overwhelms the senses while the instrumental landscape rolls and bubbles like a dense storm in the background. When it finally charges to full force it unleashes a rain of electric lightning upon the land. The way Lande puts a new, almost demonic sounding spin on each run through of the word "Hellfire" must be heard to be believed.

2.] "Godless and Wicked"
Waiting for the ambush like a panther on the prowl in the pitch black of night, this one rushes forth and pounces with a stealth-like fury and a whirlwind of wicked rage. As the hunt subsides, a winding trail of a keyboard extravaganza is left in its wake that is the core of an extended instrumental jam.

3.] "Shadowland"
A turning point for the album, where it goes from being 'good' to breathtakingly awesome. A slower, churning track of various shades, beginning with Lande sounding like he's about to rip out his vocal chords with fantastic acrobatics, before moving into the mesmerizing bridge and then the lighter dreamy chorus slips in like a snowflake in the desert. Drifting on the beautifully melodic dreamscape, Lande's lines of: "drifting on a river blue, I sail my ship forever..." is sang with such heartfelt passion that it can (and often does) bring tears to the eyes. The verses and vocals alike come out as something like a cross between the depressing brooding flavour of the Coverdale/Page collaboration from the early 90s and wandering progressive with the lightest feathery touch of Dream Theater lurking in there somewhere.

4.] "The Devil's Waltz"
A satantic waltz through the smoky mists of hell, a sly introduction to the devil himself. Complex and haunting, its a carnival song gone mad. Welcome to evil's realm.

5.] "Crying"
The circle of love, once ended it only begins again, and again...and.... oh God its DAVID COVERDALE!!! Exploring love on horizontal knee shattering levels! Or rather its Jorn doing a throwback to his The Snakes performances with his best Coverdale impression, which is so damn accurate it is difficult to tell the difference between Davy and Jorny at first listen. Hear him rip his heart out and hand it to you on a plate with such pleading lines as "I just have to have you near me.." as the song searches lovingly through the ashes of many a love gone wrong. Soft and whispery, lulling one into a state of relaxed adoration...until it trips out. Enter in some frolicking keyboard, crushing drums that pound the gentle life out of the song and guitars that just rip and tear like a wild animal at the kill in a blood lusting, feeding frenzy. The gashes are filled in by the psychotic keys that push their will until it breaks at the seams, falling back into the subued ballad-esque lines the song began with, Lande demanding "ask yourself... do you... know me anymore?" But is there really any answer? Love is fading, dying, and it can't be pieced back together.

6.] "The Devil's Hall of Fame"
Soul searching, a demon found, a monster of a song unleashed. While not claiming the title of album centerpiece (they saved the best for last), this comes pretty close, flirting with waves of darkness. Getting close enough to singe and burn, the song sucks you into the flames, melting flesh with red hot riff after riff, scorching a hole right through the center, allowing the keys bubble up to the surface like scarlet lava. Then there's Lande, standing apart as the grand master of the devilish tale. A yawning epic of a track, plodding in ways you thought only the doom encrusted Black Sabbath could, but that's not the end of the tale. Oh no, there's plenty more sizzling underneath the cocophony of evil-kissed sound. The vocal choir and the instrumental segments surrounding them are very Therion-esque, right down to the nitty gritty details like being presented in Latin. These explode ferociously for their introduction and then support Lande throughout the remainder of the track, as the electric guitar builds and subsides in wave after wave of spine chilling sound. For the main character, it is a message, accept your fate, come to terms with the end, for there is no way out of the fire. "All the souls turn black, black..."

7.] "Closing the Circle"
"I had this dream, that I was married". Yeah, and I had this dream that Beyond Twilight decided to leave the cheesy vocal 'acting' off the final cut of this cd, but that one wasn't realized either. Of course the second thing that comes to mind is, will this guy ever let go? Allow the dark corners of his mind just to swallow him already? This is, however a beautiful although short piano focused piece that lets us peek into the beauty of love, hope and the inner desire to simply believe, in something or someone.

8.] "Perfect Dark"
And finally, in closing, the quite fitting end to a unique album. This is the cream of the crop, a poison laced confection of progressive perfection. It begins with keys that mimic the airy feel of wind instruments and a carefully implimented slower pacing that allows the lead vocals to strike with full forced precision. Lurking behind is a shadowy plodding presence, serving as a reminder that all that is, shall not be forever, everything is fleeting. Lande's voice is pure crystal, mirroring the regretful tinge of a fallen angel in such lines as "Deep as the sky, wide as the sea, but windows and doors have been closed for so long." The surface begins to tremble, the ripples build into waves, breaking frightening against the surface. An aural assault of voices, lighter, almost angelic feminine voices wrap around the darker demon-esque tones of the male backing vocals, to create an eerie sonic landscape that can be not only heard but visualized with stark clarity. Flickering over the top of the suffocating layers of sound, is the voice of the neverending flame, Jorn Lande, commanding with ease and holding the listener's attention enthralled with his deceptive and ever changing vocal styles. As the words "The devil's hall of fame" are sung, the word hall rings out hollow, carved out. But the song keeps building in intensity, following a convulted path through every imaginable nightmare, until it breaks into a reassuring yet odd void of absolute nothingness, bringing the track to a halting close. "Perfect Dark" stands out among the rest as a striking piece of awe-stunning brilliance, in form, presentation and emotional response. This one not only closes out the disc and leads the concept to conclusion, but also speaks on many cryptic levels to the mind and the soul within. "You are only a fragment, a fragment of time."