Review: The Cosmic Dead ‘Beyond The Beyond’
Glasgow’s long-running, prolific, psychedelic portal-openers, The Cosmic Dead, return with their tenth album, Beyond The Beyond. Admittedly, despite hearing the band’s name for years and being at least vaguely aware of their work with Pigs x7, I never checked them out. As has happened many times before with The Sleeping Shaman, I saw Beyond The Beyond in promo crucible and decided now was the time to dive in.
The album opens with Furthur, which slowly expands through various effects and trippy noises before dropping into a driving, nodding beat bolstered by more swirling effects, guitar space-outs, and distorted bass lines. However, the repetitive vocals honestly did me in a few times. I realize that repetition and pounding a riff or vocal line into the listener’s consciousness can play a leading role in heavy psych music, but I hit ‘skip’ a few times while absorbing it. Fortunately, I didn’t dismiss The Cosmic Dead after my initial struggles, as the next track, Stronger, is an – ahem – superior track. It delivers an awesome, grooving, instrumental psych experience that features wicked drumming, killer bass work, trippy guitars, and all the wild effects one could possibly want.
Aurora, meanwhile, drifts into awareness with a mellow wave of synth and a hypnotizing bass line, before rolling drums propel the track forward as distorted guitar riffage and effects cascade into the listener’s sentience. It builds steam as the band carry this track to Mars, upping the tempo and instrumentation, which includes dizzying bass work from figurehead Omar Aborida.
wicked drumming, killer bass work, trippy guitars, and all the wild effects one could possibly want…
Since I found myself easily mesmerized by the music, closer, Aether, seemed to sneak up on me. These songs are long, with only Stronger being under the five-minute mark. I then found myself mildly surprised, looking down at my iPod, to see that I had reached the end of the record, as it held my attention well throughout. Circling back to Aether, it takes its time materializing, beginning with some clean guitar and spacey effects before morphing into a darker, more harrowing affair that had me recalling the more malevolent, industrial-tinged bands that dwell in these heavy psych portals. As the track eventually fades into the cosmos, the album reaches its mind-expanding conclusion.
Despite recoiling a bit from the album opener, I enjoyed Beyond The Beyond. There is a lot to digest and a lot going on with these four aural movements; I wouldn’t describe them as mere songs. I found this record to be a fantastic late-night musical experience and used it as a soundtrack multiple times while working on artwork. One cool fact is it was mastered by Monster Magnet co-founder, guitarist, and audio sorcerer John McBain. In the end, I enjoyed The Cosmic Dead enough to not only recommend this record but also explore their vast back catalog.
Label: Heavy Psych Sounds
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Martin Williams
