I like to start reviews with why I decided to invest my time into a band and their release. My reasons are frequently bizarre and nonsensical but rarely more so than here, where the main reason I decided to review Lhaäd‘s third album, Beyond, because the band’s name wanted me to start chanting “Lhaäds Lhaäds Lhaäds”. That said, as a fickle and faithless creature, I’d not have followed through if I hadn’t enjoyed Lhaäd‘s previous attempts to provide black metal fit for the darkest ocean trenches.
Lhaäd certainly fulfill that mission here. Their take on the genre has a thick, full sound that’s verging on post-metal. The high end has a certain shimmeriness to it that compliments the dark, cavernous low end. The melodies and compositions themselves remind me of Norwegian second wave bands, with a Emperor-esque quality to the keyboards and some of the guitar work. There’s a moment in “Beyond II” (yes, song titles are for the weak here) that reminds me very strongly of the outro of “Inno A Satana”. There’s some quieter moments that have that post-metal quality I mentioned again, such as towards the end of “Beyond III”, but for the most part this is ye olde and trve soundscapes of brooding tremolo abuse. That is to say, Beyond is right in my wheelhouse, but at risk of losing its impact due to its overfamiliar nature.
So far that hasn’t happened, though. Lhaäd demonstrate a superior understanding of how to write black metal, of how to use the ebbs and flows of a song to create hypnotic atmospheres that suck you right in. My only real point of critique is that in a crowded genre, I can’t quite identify the ‘holy fuck‘ moment that elevates Beyond above the rest. Still, the best praise I can give is that when reading in the album names that this is maybe Lhaäd‘s final effort, I was both sad and happy — sad that this is it, but happy they go out strong.
