Release:
Gates Of Hell Records
14.04.2023
Info:
Unforgiving, nihilistic blackened thrash metal from the heart of Philadelphia! Featuring past and present members of Deava, Infernal Stronghold, Woe and Woods of Ypres, WILD BEYOND scorch the earth with blazing black metal and savage thrash on their self-titled debut.
Philadelphia, PA trio WILD BEYOND has reveled in spontaneity and the unexpected ever since the band took shape smack-dab in the middle of the 2020 pandemic. While their vision was clear from the start — Fast, unrelenting black metal paired with the savagery of early thrash — the members of WILD BEYOND have channeled their unbridled energy and angst into something that exceeded their most humble of expectations. It explains why, then, Gates of Hell Records was so quick to sign WILD BEYOND for the release of their eponymous debut album. As the band put it best, the LP is like “A frost-covered fist".
WILD BEYOND — featuring guitarist/vocalist Edward Gonet (Deava, ex-Infernal Stronghold), drummer Evan Madden (ex-Woe and Woods of Ypres) and bassist/keyboardist/guitarist Jimmy Viola — started when Gonet impulse-purchased a Randy Rhodes Flying V guitar and began composing after five years of not playing. A year later, with songs and riffs under his belt, Gonet was introduced to Viola and Madden through Sonja drummer Grzesiek Czapla. The trio set forth to compose a full-length album pulsing with destructive cosmic majesty and street metal overtones.
Viola says the album came together in a “creative vacuum.” Gonet recorded demos in his basement, then sent them to the rest of the band. Viola and Madden learned most of the material on their own, but group rehearsals in the notorious Kensington area of Philadelphia (“It’s hell on earth,” notes Gonet) brought the songs to life. The compositions are accompanied by Gonet’s lyrics, that while open to interpretation, come from his own personal Isengard, a lust for Satan, death in deep space and misery. With that in mind, Viola pushed for their album to go under the self-titled banner, providing the band with an aura of immediate intrigue.
"Wild Beyond" capably blasts the top off Norwegian black metal’s snow-covered mountains and Gonet mutates the riffs into form. All the while, Madden is pushed to his absolute limits, something that became clear during the songwriting process when the drummer matched note-for-note Gonet’s drum machine parts that were considered by his bandmates too challenging to play.
The album is accompanied by artwork from the acclaimed Adam Burke (Angel Witch, Eternal Champion, Temple of Void) that is taken from a piece coincidentally titled “The Beyond.” Only fitting for an album that embodies its personnel’s hyperactive imaginations, anxieties and aggressions. This debut will inspire the metal legions to bang their heads, light ceremonial candles in seance and summon malevolent forces from BEYOND.
"In the Footsteps of Mars" - Official Track Stream: https://youtu.be/hn4Rw0pBWaM
Tracklist:
1. In the Footsteps of Mars
2. Detonation of Secret Works
3. Frenzied at the Skull
4. Arctic Stargate
5. Sculpting the Abyss
6. Antichrist Coronation
7. Radio Burst Dark Origins
8. Exit Wounds
Line-up:
Edward Gonet - Guitar / Vocals
Evan Madden - Drums
Jimmy Viola - Bass / Keyboards / Guitar
 |