Whilst many other musical genres have come and gone, deathcore has proved itself impervious to various fads and trends and has weathered the onslaught of time rather well. With young bands such as Beyond Extinction bursting onto the scene, the future looks equally sure, especially when armed with their latest EP, Nothing More Wretched. However, try to confine Beyond Extinction to any one genre at your peril, because they’ll smash down any wall with insanely heavy breakdowns and blast beats, and makes this release a smorgasbord of all that’s good and heavy.
Employing shifting tonality to great effect, ‘Warmth Of The Empty Light’ is a disorientating, discombobulating introduction that constantly repositions the listener via changing pitch, and the result is an unsettling experience to say the least. It is an opener that slowly draws us into the band’s nightmare, before they give us a rude awakening with the juggernaut sucker punch that is ‘The Subjugator’. Like some strange robotic creature snapping at your skin with steely teeth, it is a ferocious track, and one that offers little in the way of redemption. The band lock in tightly to deliver a crushing, metronomic beat while Jasper Harmer’s vocals seem to emanate from the very depths of hades. The subversion of tone that was introduced at the outset is used to great effect here (and indeed on the whole EP), it not only acts as a thread stitching all the songs together but it gives Nothing More Wretched a futuristic, Bladerunner feel; it offers a frightening glimpse at a not-too-distant dystopian future and soundtracks it with a fistful of explosive tracks.
In a case of art imitating life, Nothing More Wretched seems to be tapping into the current zeitgeist; as the world teeters on the edge of global apocalypse, Beyond Extinction are providing the musical backdrop. That’s most evident on the title-track on which the band drop down a gear, trading speed for extra power, it dredges the depths and almost stagnates like a penny dropped in treacle. This Essex quintet could never be accused of being generic, and ‘Gravedigger’ picks up the pace, alternating between faster and slower sections yet, whatever the tempo Beyond Extinction operate, there’s no discernible drop in heaviness. If you want to know how Atlas felt with the weight of the world on his shoulders, then I suggest you give Nothing More Wretched a spin. With its doomy outro ‘Plague Monarch’ makes for an ominous closer and, attaching itself like an anchor to a drowning man, makes the silence that follows positively deafening.
This EP carries on the good work of its predecessor, and in terms of evolution it shows a great leap forward. The band play with an undeniable confidence (won from memorable performances such as at Bloodstock 2021) and it appears that the world is their oyster.
- Nothing More Wretched is self-released on 17th March 2023.
- Official Website
Set List:
- Warmth Of The Empty Light
- The Subjugator
- Nothing More Wretched
- Gravedigger
- Eyes Of God Look Down Upon Me
- Plague Monarch
