Review by Adam M on May 28, 2025.

This album was revolutionary for the band as it brought their sound freshly into the world and showed them to be an innovative band within the post metal realm.  There are songs like “Watchtower” that will forever be classics of the genre and proved this band to be a contendor within the genre.  They would go on to be a bright and innovative band, but this is where it all started.

Instrumentally, the album is strong and carries with it a great deal of weight.  The guitars crush everything in their path and make for a poignant listen.  The drumming is powerful.  The vocals are distinctive and similar to what we would here in the future from this band.  All in all, this album is musically solid.

The flaw with the album lies in how it is not as innovative as some of the albums the band would craft in the future, despite showing a level of power that is commendable.  It is not quite as cutting edge as some of their other albums, but perhaps more potent.  This is also a very fresh perspective to music and something that hadn’t really been heard in the same manner before.

In conclusion, this was a very strong album that brought a great new act to the forefront.  It is full of catchy and memorable songs that will be forever ingrained in your mind.  The crushing riffs are now etched in history as great and something new to the genre.  Cult of Luna would be more interesting in the future, but never would they have as much impact.

Rating:  7.8/10

Review by Allan on July 7, 2003.

Somewhere out there, between Neurot Recordings and Hydrahead Records, there are a handful of bands that capitalize on the Neurosis'-style. Maybe not exactly, but don't try to tell me that the amazing Neurosis hasn't influenced such bands as Isis, and most recently - and to the most recognizable extent - Cult Of Luna.

Somehow, Cult Of Luna got picked up by one of metals larger labels, Earache. Good for them, I say, and good for us. Cult Of Luna might not be the most original thing, but in relative terms, they're doing a hell of a lot more about that than most bands touting around the metal scene.

"The Beyond" is Cult Of Luna's second release, and their first for Earache. Ten songs of blinding, bone rattling music. This stuff is dense and there is no doubt about that. It tends to alternate between more quiet moments, and others that pummel you into submission. That chugging bass just thumps that rhythm out like all hell is breaking loose while a wall of distorted chords are churned out, creating a storm of aggressive, uncomforting, and edgy music. Even the more quiet moments are likely to insight fear into you. Cult of Luna isn't exactly the kind of band that you're going to want to leave playing when you go to sleep at night. It's quite eerie, to be honest.

However, Cult of Luna is often torn between success and failure for exactly the same reasons. While the aforementioned elements of Cult of Luna help propel them into prosperity, it also creates somewhat of a pit. That pit is what I like to call the gaping hole of monotony. Simply put, there are times when "The Beyond" fails to engage the listener in the desired ways. It's a lengthy album, and at this point Cult of Luna have things that they haven't quite nailed yet. It's easy to get lost in "The Beyond" to the point where, along with Cult of Luna, you lose site of where you're going.

Bottom Line: "The Beyond" is definitely a record of quality. Still, it's not amazing. I predict however that Cult of Luna's greatest hour has yet to come. "The Beyond" is still certainly worth a look into.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 7
Originality: 7
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.2 out of 10

Review by Felix on April 30, 2020.

It is surprising to see that a lot of people seem to love the debut of Vendetta. The average rate of reviews speaks volumes. But believe me, nobody took care of Vendetta at the time of the release of their debut. The German metal magazines like Rock Hard, Metal Hammer or Rock Power never wrote many lines about the band from Bavaria. Celtic Frost, Running Wild, Kreator or Helloween were pure gold for Noise Records, but Vendetta did not find a great audience. Please keep in mind that there were also a lot of competitors that had contracts with other companies and many of them (Destruction, Sodom, Iron Angel) also knew how to thrash in a competent manner. Vendetta did not lack technical skills, but 30 years ago, it was common understanding that their songwriting was rather mediocre. To be honest, I still think so. Go and Live...Stay and Die is, to describe it positively, a decent record, but it has nothing that makes my heart beat faster.

Vendetta chose a pretty complex kind of thrash and this approach resulted in overlong pieces. They lacked catchiness and a clear focus was missing as well. The title track, for instance, celebrates an orgy of (sometimes bulky) riffs, but at the end of the day, this guitar wizardry remains futile. There are no parts that leave a lasting impression. The following 'Traitor's Fate' offers a dynamic bridge, so far, so good, but compared with really strong, more or less technical thrash albums from Germany, this tune also gets lost in the crowd. Each and every song of Angel Dust's debut beats the here presented tracks with great ease, not least because of the fact that Vendetta always miss the right moment to bring a song to an end. Especially 'Traitor's Fate' shows this symptom. This lack of compactness is simply regrettable, because it drains the power from the songs.

The vocals sound lackluster and interchangeable. It's obvious that the guy at the microphone lacks charisma. His ordinary voice matches the ordinary lyrics. Very socio-critical, very instructive for uninformed fools like me and always on the morally right side. The album's title was a statement against xenophobia in a country where no right-wing party played any role. Slightly strange, but it's always a good thing to bring yourself into position against a non-existent enemy. Anyway, the lyrics are not the problem here. The musical mix of high speed, average riffs, meandering, sometimes excessive solos and rather poor melodies is just too weak to compete with Paradox or further similarly acting formations. Last but not least, the unobtrusive production also has nothing that gives the album an own identity. Thus, it was no wonder that Vendetta never got a big piece of the cake. Go and Live... is gathering dust on my shelf.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10