Diabolic Night – Beyond The Realm
Band: Diabolic Night
Title: Beyond The Realm
Label: High Roller Records
Release Date: 15 November 2019
Country: Germany
Format reviewed: Digital Promo
Metal is the universal language, and today we are speaking German. A country already known for their bone crushing thrash metal, the underground has been pumping out loads of old school speed and thrash metal with a new set of modern influences. DIABOLIC NIGHT is a metal duo that caught my attention with an onslaught of traditional speed metal vocals and a thrash attitude backed with the odd bedfellows of fiery melody and a blackened grimness. “Beyond The Realm” is the first full-length release with the initial demo and an EP released as a solo album by the mysterious multi-instrumentalist Heavy Steeler. Picking up a dedicated drummer along the way, DIABOLIC NIGHT has made it worth the wait.
The opening track builds into blazing guitars as rolling thunder ushers in the oncoming storm before “Sovereign of Doom” explodes into a ferocious riffnado of classic thrash gallops and an evisceration of the senses. I love the classic speed metal / old school black metal vocal style, perfectly suiting the material from start to finish on the album. “Crescent Moon Rise” starts off with hammering drums and all the thrashy awesomeness you could ask for. Full of fast tempo madness and a relentless pace, DIABOLIC NIGHT refuses to cut corners with their riff work, layering filthy bass licks and intricate drum fills into the shredding for good measure.
“In Retribution” starts off a bit slower, before blasting off once again into whiplash territory but the title track “Beyond The Realm” has a much more melodic tone than others so far. Straying from the thrash realm and into a more classic metal sound is potentially what they meant from the song title on this one. Fortune favours the bold with their use of new sounds and styles only strengthening the enjoyment of the listen.
A perfect example of this shows up on the next track, “Odyssey” which completely took me off guard on my first listen. Thunder booms again as an orchestra delivers hauntingly beautiful classical music before the guitars cut through like the bloody Phantom of the Opera. Again a more melodic guitar progression plays overtop the thrashy undertone. The raw speed metal vocals work so damn well with every tone used on the album, giving everything a loveable echoing madness.
“Infernal Power” and “Reach for the Night” fly out of the gate with a fantastic fusion of the tones we’ve heard on the album so far, but DIABOLIC NIGHT have one more curveball left as the “Descension Into Dying Spheres” allows the blackened side of their sound takes over. Everything from the drums to the main riff sequence oozes blackened mastery, even as the thrashy gallops make a brief appearance. The album ends as thunder and an acoustic section washes over the senses, cleansing the palate after one hell of a ride.
DIABOLIC NIGHT has a wicked sound that is seemingly influenced by bands like Venom, Kreator, and Sodom but also one more akin instrumentally to Iron Maiden and Blind Guardian at times. I thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of tracks provided on “Beyond The Realm”. They do not fall into typical speed metal tropes and offer long songs with little filler. While the riffs, although mostly ferociously fast paced shredding, offer lots of variation, the absolutely phenomenal guitar solo work steals the show in a few tracks and also breaks up the progressions nicely. If you like fast as hell riff fury and a good old fashioned metal time than DIABOLIC NIGHT demand your immediate attention! 9/10 Metal Yeti
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