Five guys stand in a sultry pose. There’s nothing unusual about that. The angelic-looking one at the front reminds me a bit of Black Polaris’s Sam Burgess. But Beyond the Shore come from the USA, not Hertfordshire They do have one thing in common: hardcore.
The template hardcore values are here on this 30 minute, 10 track blast: growling, brutality, anger, high velocity and “we are the boys” type tribalism. But wait … “Ghostwatcher” isn’t just a tick box exercise. Beyond the Shore go beyond trying to rip throats out and make us seethe with rage. In fact in the middle of the mayhem, there’s a pleasantly mellow acoustic track “Milestone” with a funky drum beat. Liveliness is their trademark, however, and as the saying goes, it’s all in the riff. But it’s not even about that. Changes of pace, break-outs, colourful drumming, stuttering guitars and even a bit of cyber metal all feature in this work. Nothing is overdone, so the effect of the driving and forceful songs is not lost. It’s not frantic but of course it’s loud and in your face.
So I’d suggest that this is a cut above your average hardcore album. Yet strangely while each song is individual in its character, not one was a stand-out track for me. I liked the danger and intensity of the short opener “Dividers”, but so too did I like the imaginative structure of “Half Lived”, where tribal warfare mixes with heavy, shifting patterns and outstanding drum work. The attraction, I guess, is that each song is mixed up, so we’re kept on our toes. The deep and echoey “Homewrecker” manages to infuse essentially classic hardcore with sophisticated patterns. After “Milestone”, it’s back to the heavily technical territory of “#Dreamkiller”. An emotional side then emerges through the hardness of “Breathe on Ice”. The title track ends the album and like all that has gone before it, “Ghostwalker” has interesting touches without completely taking off and overwhelming me.
This lively album displays the potential to make your blood boil, as well as join in and listen carefully, but for me just fell short of being outstanding. But the drum work is superb and there’s plenty of interest at a number of levels, so I certainly would be willing to listen to Beyond the Shore again in the future.
(6.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
www.facebook.com/beyondtheshore
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