### Beyond The Sixth Seal: The resurrection of everything tough

#### 21/06/10 || InquisitorGeneralis

I’m not sold on The Red Chord. I find their version of spastic death metalcore interesting and enjoyed them in concert but there has yet to be an album of theirs that has blown me away. However, Beyond the Sixth Seal, a side project featuring current ‘Chord bassist Greg Weeds and guitarist “Gunface” McKenzie is an altogether different monster and extremely enjoyable.

For BTSS Weeds and McKenzie drop the technical wankery and spastic style of The Red Chord and along with drummer Brenden Roche dish out some enjoyable death’n‘roll in the style of newer Entombed, Gorefest, and Volbeat mixed with some classic doomier influence like Sabbath, Trouble, and Saint Vitus. Don’t worry, the vocals are pure death metal and nothing like the goofy shit that wanker in Volbeat spews out. “The resurrection of everything tough” is heavy on the riffs and groove and while not revolutionary or groundbreaking it is well done and pretty solid all the way though.

“My terrifying ally” is the place to start on “The anal insertion of everything rough” or as it is known in art house circles “Daemonomania discovers himself in college”. The song maintains a steady pace while having a killer tempo change a little over two minutes in. Toss in some cool lyrics and you have an ace number. McKenize really is a riff machine on here and his playing is definitely the backbone and strongest aspect of the band. His low, death-style vocals are not shabby either

Mike’s solo on “The Twisted ladder” is good and the band gets a little bit psychedelic for a hot second before firing back into the death metal heavy rock and roll that they do exceptionally well. A minute after said solo he drops a riff that is pure southern goodness and BtSS toss in yet another solid, groovy section. More of the same goes down three minutes into “Everything tough”, a close runner up for the top spot. This threesome is tight and while not hyper-technical they certainly mix things up enough to keep “The resurrection of everything tough” fresh all the way through. I wish the same could be said for your mom’s snatchola.

Backing all this up Brenden CockRoche keeps a steady beat on the drums. Sorry hummingbird fans, no blasting and little to no double bass to be found here. His play is still good though, but nothing that will give you a Tama-boner like watching George Kolias. There are a few negatives though: first being that some songs like the boring closer “Monument” are dragged down by the wanna-be Sabbath sections. Also, the album feels a little too long. The instrumental “The law you have sworn” could have been left out along with “Monument” and maybe one or two other songs to make the album a bit more fit and trim.

Still, the negatives are minor and for the most part this is good old fashioned death’n‘roll with some southern doom/stoner influence that I think will appeal to most people who stop by Global D, so give it a try! It’s nothing super new or original, but its fucken good, so I believe the following score is appropriate.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Metal Blade
- Website: Beyond The Sixth Seal MySpace
- Band
- Mike Mckenzie: vocals, guitar
- Gregory Weeks: bass
- Brendan Roche: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Nothing To Prove
- 02. My Terrifying Ally
- 03. I Die At 35
- 04. Reverly
- 05. Stricken
- 06. The Twisted Ladder
- 07. Feral Dreamer
- 08. The Law You Have Sworn
- 09. Forward Thinking
- 10. Yawning Of The Gale
- 11. Everything Though
- 12. Blood Of A Ghost
- 13. Monument