Beyond Twilight - For the love of art and the making 2/5
Reviewed: 6-16-06
Tracklist:
1. In the eyes of my soul (First movement)
2. Creep evil
3. Sleeping beauty – The journey
4. Purity
5. Sleeping beauty – Connected
6. Tongue angel
7. I moved
8. Blackened in my eyes
9. Temptations
10. Fiery woman
11. Sweet irony
12. Conversation of the dead
13. The perfect heart
14. The perfect heart part ll – Think
15. The key – Imagine
16. The perfect heart part lll (modulated instrumental)
17. The black widow
18. The key part ll – Naked truth
19. The kiss of the wind
20. Dark wild rage
21. Temptations part ll – Return (modulated)
22. I know why the caged bird sings
23. Cold as blue
24. The awakening
25. Cold as blue – Like a candle you start to drip
26. Bilingues cavendi - One should beware of the double-tongued
27. The awakening part ll – The smile
28. The awakening part lll – Opening the curtains to a beautiful sunny morning watching the singing birds
29. In the eyes of my soul (First movement modulated with irony)
30. Past the magic
31. Past the magic part ll (Rhythmic laughter)
32. Nightwandering on needles
33. In the eyes of my soul (Second movement modulated with irony)
34. In the eyes of my soul (Second movement)
35. 6 seconds past 6
36. Organ scientistic formula (1)
37. Nightwandering on needles part ll – The answer
38. 6 black roses - Ship of rowing slaves
39. Autumn fog message
40. Sleeping beauty returns - The black box of reverse (Forward)
41. The black box of reverse
42. In the eyes of my soul (Third movement)
43. In the eyes of my soul – For the love of art and the making (Finale)
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43 tracks in 38 minutes, that works exceedingly well if your band is just a minor threat or subtle discharge of subhumans; but when you play progressive power metal like Beyond twilight from Denmark, it's a bit bombastic, bittersweet irony. On this their 3rd CD, the band attempts to do something totally unique by creating a complex puzzle to be solved by the participant with each successive listen. According to keyboardists Finn Zierier he is the "ferrarius verbero aestus ferratilis" or steel mastermind forging his words into your soul...for the love and art of making... Apparently this organic scientistic formula is more than just a one piece puzzle to be solved. The 46 arrangements each interchange and rely upon one another's interconnectedness to look past the magic of a mirror sleeping beauty, as one is entwined with a conversation with dead. Listening to this CD is like watching the excellent remake of '13 Ghosts' with all the gates in the basements opening and closing thereby trapping and releasing the reliquary souls of demise. It's like playing with a rubik's cube and desparately trying to get at least one color on one side, just so one feels a sense of accomplishment I'm quite sure the band is pleased with themselves for creating this confound enigma; but this black box of reverse expounded upon the average metal mind, is like enduring 43 MP3s of a band one so yearns to hear; but only get snippets of the music, invoking his dark wild rage.
For some creative progressive bands like Dream theater and especially Ayreon, concept albums work well. While listening to this CD all the way through, then backward, then on shuffle, I'm clueless just what the concept is essentially. Am I nightwandering on needles in the dark? Reading the lyrics only serves to irritate me more as I have no idea what each song is saying. "Tongue Angel" has these words, "Helium ballons won't keep the clowns from the cliff side....the last 6 years you opened your mouth when it rained...". What does that mean? Then there are some tracks with only a few words like the aggressive and heavy "Dark Wild Rage", "Lie beneath your skull...". How is this band going to perform this CD live? The musicianship is quite impressive, as is the excursion demise vocally by Jacob Hansen, that foul tongue fallen angel who would weave the apocalypse and leave scars for Ron Rhineheart. Although, now Ron has endured his own act of contrition, never to rise again, singing about his saviour in a band called Oil, praying for his own merciless death. What a peculiar name for a Christian band; since for so many lost souls experiencing the hunger of the undead and the black prophecies, Almighty Oil and death is their saviour. This is truly the death of innocence for both of these vocalists. Bjorne Jansson also sings quite well on certain tracks, and there are even female vocals on the "Perfect Heart", which would sound so eloquent in the eyes of my soul, if the song was not cut-off so abruptly, as just about every track is.
When this band started out with Jorn Lande as the vocalist on their debut CD, 'The devil's hall of fame', they mirrored the potential of Masterplan with the kiss of the wind; although, Jorn has now since departed that camp as well. When he headlines Prog/Power this fall and performs music from all the bands which he participated in, he will have an argosy of material from which to draw; personally I want to hear some Mundanus Imperium. Beyond Twilight's follow-up release, 'Section X' was also quite experimental, sadly this time they have bit off more than I can chew, and if I keep playing this CD, no matter how many different ways, I'm going to choke.
MICHAEL
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