The Murder Of My Sweet - Beth Out Of Hell
Frontiers Records
Cinematic Rock/Metal
13 songs (71:00)
Release year: 2015
Frontiers Records
Reviewed by Joel
Surprise of the month

The Murder Of My Sweet is a band from Stockhom, Sweden releasing their third disc in since 2009 (one every three years), and is the creation of drums/keyboardist and producer, Daniel Flores. Touches of progressive, gothic, and straight ahead hard rock/heavy metal is what you get. Vocalist Angelica Rhylin has a powerful voice, that has a lot of passion to it. I reviewed her solo album which was more melodic hard rock with an AOR vibe not long after I joined the MetalReviews team. Beth Out of Hell is a conceptual album, told through Rhylin’s vocals, brief spoken parts, and a male counterpart (Other places I read online tell me this is Daniel Flores himself who sings). The story is a good versus evil, and two characters from one from each, that fall in love.

After the opening intro, The Awakening, a faster guitar driven song opens things up. Flourishes of progressive rock/metal, and some nice symphonic layers helps this disc open up the right way. World In Ashes does follow suit, while the next two songs are both slower, but Always The Fugitive and Bitter Love. The latter is a ballad that allows both vocal leads to share the spotlight. Rhylin’s sweet passionate yet seductive vocals are definitely a highlight. While these songs could have a more pop-metal feel to some, the symphonic layers and quality production raises the songs to another level. Still much like the first two songs, is guitar and symphonic driven with a medium pace. Rhylin unlike a lot of her counterparts does not rely on operatic vocals, though a song like this you would almost expect it from any other symphonic or cinematic band. She uses her natural ability and range and emotion to get the lyrics across, much like Cristina Scabbia does in Lacuna Coil for comparison’s sake if you have not heard Ms. Rhylin’s vocals. Still has one of the few guitar solos that really stood out, after I listened to the disc a few times.

Humble Servant while not my favorite track on the entire disc, does have this lyric video, you can watch and listen to. This song if it’s the only song you’ll hear from the band, will definitely not give you the big picture of what they are about. The epic and bombastic Requiem For A Ghost, is a tab just under nine and a half minutes, and is truly one of the best songs the band has ever created. Symphonic, atmospheric (the first three minutes of mainly the two lead vocalists), and progressive in the music itself. I wish I had a link to share this song, because this would be the best way to introduce everything this band has to offer within one song. After the last epic, Euthanasia is just under half the time, and is more catchy in melody with lots of orchestral overtones. The acoustic guitars of Tide After Tide was a nice change, from the nearly previously forty plus minutes of symphonic/cinematic metal. A haunting yet beautiful song, that sees Rhylin taking more of a backup vocal duty on this song, but she definitely has her moments. The cleverly titled Poets By Default (that would make one cool band name in my opinion!) is a another slower to mid paced song, with some stop and go guitar riffs, but this one and Heaven Succumb are followed by, Beth Out of Hell’s epic number two, Means To An End. Much like The Awakening opened things up, this epic opens up with a driving symphonic feel, guitars mixed with orchestral elements with a huge melodic chorus. There is also some great guitar parts, and leads hidden behind all the layers, that I wished there was more of. The song near its last half, you can hear melodies heard earlier in the disc, as a way of closure for the whole story. Some may call treading the same waters, I say if this was a musical or as the band describes their music as cinematic rock/metal, it allows all of its moving parts to find an end together.

Bombastic, melodic, symphonic and orchestral, there are many ways to describe Beth Out Of Hell, but to those who do not find this genre to their liking, will probably skip over this review. This is NOT an easy album to digest at over seventy minutes long, but its a rewarding one if you take the time, to listen to each aspect of every song. Fans of Symphonic/Cinematic music, those who enjoy their rock and metal with lots of melody, will find something to love with this. With the two previous releases, Divanity (2009) and Bye Bye Lullabye (2012), The Murder Of My Sweet have really outdone themselves in every facet of the disc, a surprise for me this year, and truly a respectable and commendable job, and most of all an enjoyable album to listen to.

Killing Songs :
The Awakening, Means To An End, Tide After Tide, Poets By Default, Means To An End
Joel quoted 85 / 100
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