BEYOND THE FRONTIER

My first impression of this is that it is a harder, heavier version of Golden Earring's early period - up to and including Moontan - and that for me is not a bad thing as Golden Earring is a band that I love a great deal other than for many of their later albums. The similarity is most apparent in the vocal delivery style of Sebastian Najder which is very good.

The band's name is a weak point as far as I'm concerned. The name "Hellhaven" had me anticipating a standard Heavy Metal outfit and that is far from the truth in fact. The band state that they are focussing on being an art - metal band however I see this as more prog melodic hard rock than metal.

There is a lot of drama going on in the music as well as in the subject matter and the music touches part of me that loves melody and the dramatic. The musicianship is good throughout.

Relating to this there is just something missing as far as I'm concerned - it is good but there is nothing that stands up and shouts greatness. No weak points but no real musical giant statements either. If you are a lover of Golden Earring's earlier period (which I am) then this will give you a lot of pleasure. If you enjoy "Riverside" then by all means get hold of this album. Essentially, for me, this is a three and a half star album and due to the fact that it did take me back to one of the all time greats in rock music I will add the half star in order to allow for four stars.