Denmark's Beyond Twilight debuted in 2001 with a terrific prog metal album called The Devil's Hall of Fame, and followed it up with 2005's Section X and 2006's For the Love of Art and the Making, each of the three featuring a different vocalist, although their styles are similar, and all three are strong singers, coming out of the late 70's / early 80's hard rock style pioneered by the Deep Purple family tree. Musically, Beyond Twilight showcases keyboards heavily, as the principal composer and songwriter is keyboardist Finn Zierler. It's heavily orchestrated, and leans toward a film soundtrack kind of sound, with a bit of an insane carnival kind of mood, but super heavy (in a traditional metal kind of way) with a rock solid groove. The third album is interesting in that it is a single piece of music comprised of 43 short tracks that the listener is invited to listen to in any order.
The first album featured one of my favorite vocalists, Norwegian singer Jørn Lande, in one of his two best performances that I've heard to date, and was released only four months after the other one, Ark's brilliant Burn the Sun. Here's the first track from The Devil's Hall of Fame, entitled "Hellfire". It's got a cheesy sci-fi intro that could have been done worse, and I dig the little gasp at the end of it that leads into the song. You'll get a taste of the cinematic compositional approach, Jørn's unbelievable vocal performance, plus a tasty solo at the six minute mark by guitarist Anders Ericson Kragh and some equally tasty rhythm section playing throughout. It's a great track, but the rest of the album is just as good. If you like this one, check out the rest.
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