Do not be alarmed, but the UK’s Beyond Grace are about to unleash an absolute BANGER on your unsuspecting asses. If you listened to their debut Seekers back in 2017, you may be expecting it a little bit, but son, you don’t even fucking know. If you haven’t heard it, definitely check out Seekers because it’s an incredibly mature, well-constructed debut, but this…? God damn.

For those who don’t know, Beyond Grace includes in its rank Andy Walmsley, who writes for another very prominent heavy metal site. He and I tend to frequently agree on music, so maybe there’s a little bias here, but if he likes his own album, as I’m sure he does, then I’ll probably agree. As you can see above, I do.

Beginning with a tape click, opener “Dark Forest Doctrine” soon roars from the speakers. The intro is suitably foreboding before everything kicks in. Immediately, the production stands out. I’ve read in other reviews that the production is lacking. I disagree whole-heartedly as I think it’s excellent. Others who say it’s not good usually praise albums that sound like they’re recorded in an underwater outhouse, so take it for what it is. It’s a little dirty, but in a good way (like your mom). It reminds me quite a bit of the sound on Edge of Sanity’s Unorthodox. What you’re getting here is a pummeling and, baby, you’re going to love it. Andy’s vocals, highs and lows, sound absolutely ferocious. Something present here, which was honestly missing from the debut, is a solid hook. What a hell of an opener.

For as good as track 1 is, track 2, “Barmecide Feast,” may be better. It begins with a spoken word sample from that danged Obummer (that’s how idiots around where I live say his name thinking they’re funny) talking about trickle-down economics. The middle section is where I can hear the rumble, and that production stands out again. I cannot stress enough how great that bass sounds. The chorus, although it only appears a couple times, is quite repeatable.

There are only 8 songs on the album, so one could think the middle part would drag. However, that would be incorrect. There are highlights across the board. In “Factions Speak Louder Than Herds,” the highs and lows, as well as the guitar shredding stands out. On the nearly 6-minute “Persona Non Grata,” that bass heavy mix stands out as the track rumbles and grooves, along with some spoken word vocals to begin. That rumble persists, as it does with several other tracks.

The title track is the closer, and I’ll be damned if it’s not one of the best, maybe even THE best closing track of the year. It’s lengthy at over 12 minutes, but it’s 12 minutes of an incredible build, which climaxes (you might, too) with Andy’s isolated, absolutely brutal vocals, then a tape click, ending just as it began.

Fuck, guys. This is spectacular! 47 minutes is usually a little lengthy for me when it comes to an album, but there’s not one single moment wasted. Not one second of filler. This is a year end list candidate, no doubt about it. At this point, I can’t imagine it NOT being on my year end list, and pretty high up there at that. You! Yes, you! Go to Prosthetic’s Bandcamp, the band’s official store, or any record store (if you have one) and buy this. Now. Right now!

[Visit the band's website]

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