While I appreciate death metal of the more technical and dissonant variety a lot of the time, there’s something to be said about the beauty of simplicity. Sometimes, I just want riffs that club me over the head repeatedly. Down-tuned, burly, crushing death metal juggernauts Pneuma Hagion understood the assignment, and proceeded to deliver a record akin to receiving blunt force trauma back in 2022, called Demiurge. Two years later, they’re back, and they’re even meaner than ever on follow-up From Beyond. From impressive lyrical content about a tyrant taking control of the known world by force and murdering any dissidents to their empire to earth-shattering riffs and blasts, the most impressive thing about Pneuma Hagion is that it’s just two people.
All of the songs on From Beyond are under three minutes and somehow pack more heft than anything else I’ve heard all year. Drummer S is a master at his craft, and ranges from some of the most well-done blasts to a more slowed-down rumble. Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist R is in charge of the riffs, and riffs are what he delivers, alongside a truckload of pinched harmonics. There’s no solos at all on From Beyond, and that’s a good thing, as it would diminish the sheer brutality it offers. Tone and production wise, it’s exactly what a death metal album should sound like. The main highlight is “Those Who Obey”, but all of these songs have enough force to spin kick a black metal nerd into a locker. Apocalyptic death metal is usually done well, but what Pneuma Hagion have done is taken it to another level – From Beyond is their best work yet.
From Beyond is the archetype of a death metal album. There’s everything contained that makes death metal great – lumbering riffs, massive vocals, and pounding blasts. It’s also infinitely replayable, being under 25 minutes. I’ve come back to this quite a few times, and it’s rapidly becoming an album I can just throw on anytime – be it working out, or crunching data for my day job. If you want nothing more than a pure death metal album, look no further, because nothing else will beat From Beyond in the heaviness department this year. Pneuma Hagion have outdone themselves, and if this upward evolution is the trend that we can expect on album number four, I’ll gladly take the beating it has to offer. Death metal could take a lesson from this.
