Review of Beastbane - The Land Beyond the Forest
Beastbane's The Land Beyond the Forest is one of those albums where the cover and song titles already tell you a lot. "The Howling Moon", "The Sword in Stone", "Death Rides the Night" - you can probably guess the general direction before hearing a note. And yes, there are plenty of dark forests and old kingdoms in the music too. The band started in 2025, so this is very much a first step, but they already have a pretty clear idea of what they want. Doom is probably the biggest part of it, although traditional heavy metal is all over the riffs, while the keyboards and other symphonic touches fill out the atmosphere. The guitars are what keep it interesting for me. Take the title track. Eight minutes is a lot of time, especially when you're dealing with slow material, but the main riff has enough weight to carry it for quite a while. It doesn't rush anywhere. Sometimes that's exactly what I want from doom. Other times I was ready for the nex...
