Review by Adam on February 1, 2003.

Neuraxis is one of my favorite extreme metal bands. Flourishing with their own stylistic touches, Neuraxis take brutal melodic death metal to a whole new level. While they tend to slip into rather generic territory from time to time, they still managed to put together a original and creative metal release in “Truth Beyond.”

For the band’s previous album, “A Passage Into Forlorn,” the music totaled around 24 minutes. Although the material was excellent, it left me wanting more. Now, a year later, Neuraxis is back with that “more,” another full-length album, this time with over forty minutes of their infectious form of extreme metal.

Neuraxis enhances their thick death metal riffing with a very effective use of pinch harmonics. It has sort of become their trademark over the years, although one can only expect them when we’re listening to death metal. Vocally, they have strayed away from the bulk of the grind style used in the past and opted for more straightforward screams and brutal death metal vocals. The drummer, however, really makes this band that much better. It is not just blasting 24-7 with this guy. He displays a tremendous amount of versatility that can put your average death metal drummer to shame.

Apart from two mellow instrumentals, the rest of “Truth Beyond” is a constant balancing act between melody and brutality. There is not much to set the songs apart from one another, yet Neuraxis seem very comfortable in their sound so this is easily forgivable. The band plays a very unique blend of melodic yet brutal death metal. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then I highly recommend this to you.

Bottom Line: One of the best brutal melodic death metal bands out there right now. If you dig that sort of thing, then this is definitely for you!

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 8
Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 9
Overall: 8

Rating: 8.4 out of 10