Album Review: Pneuma Hagion - From Beyond
Reviewed by Sam Jones
It’s curious how, in this day and age, social media has a growing impact on only how many people receive a record but how you discover new music in the first place. Take today’s act, Pneuma Hagion, for example; I’ve never heard of these guys before but it’s entirely through their online presence that I now know them. Formed in 2015 out of Texas, United States, Pneuma Hagion are a primarily one-man death/black metal band who, up until Shane Elwell’s inclusion on the drums, was fronted and performed solely by Ryan Wilson, also having his hand in multiple other projects too. Releasing a bunch of Demos, Splits, an EP, a Compilation, Pneuma Hagion’s first album, Voidgazer, finally released in 2020 and since then the band have released a new full length work every two years. 2022 saw Demiurge see the light of day and, now another two years on, we have From Beyond as the band’s third album. Though not originally on my list of records to check out, the numerous instances where this upcoming record keeps cropping up encouraged me to try it out. Due for release via Everlasting Spew Records on August 30th, this is Pneuma Hagion’s latest record.
I appreciate how Pneuma Hagion throw you right into the mix of things with little fanfare made regarding their appearance on record; there’s no expectation to be had of what they’re capable of, instead the band show you outright what they’re made of. In addition, the band’s songwriting showcases itself as this especially ruthless and brutal display of riffs and tone that doesn’t back down for a moment in case their audience may feel a touch overwhelmed; if so the band leave that problem to you, as they only persist in bludgeoning your senses with a sledgehammer. The band very quickly establish their soundscape as one attuned with speed but, if anything, Pneuma Hagion are just as adept at slowing their pace down just as much as they are in delivering blast beats and seething guitar work. On record, their tone manages to capture this driving, atomic power so when the riffs do slow down you feel the power derived within them clearly. It may be a muddied style of production but the band have still ensured you receive the full might of their songwriting.
I like the band’s approach to track length too. The band could have easily stretched out their songwriting for maximum impact, or incorporated additional ideas or instrumental segments to keep refreshing your engagement with the track you’re listening to. However, Pneuma Hagion have opted for a more straightforward approach; just blister your audience for three to four minutes at a time, over and again, from start to finish, and they’ll likely want to return for another round. Shorter tracks sometimes get stuck with the responsibility of being purely devoted to speed in some bands; not Pneuma Hagion; here the band’s songwriting is excellently intertwined with faster and doomier elements of playing whilst still weaving sections together to establish an organic listening experience, so you’re never on the receiving end of simply one kind of tone or pacing.
One consequence of the band’s tone and pace is the crafting of a wall of sound that manages to feel total and without the light of day peering through, yet never so complete that it’s leaving you without the idea you can’t withstand it. The clenched tone, production and rate the band can play at means this isn’t an album where you can try and claw yourself away from should the idea come to you; you’re in it for the entire duration as you won’t want to come away, From Beyond is this satisfying and addicting experience because the band know you’re going to be waiting for that next hit, that next divebonb, that next blistering sequence, and then they’ve had it and they’re waiting for the next. It may be a wall of sound but I’d be hesitant to deem From Beyond as cavernous or resembling a cacophonous experience. Though it’s evident the band have the capabilities of doing just that, the songwriting has rendered the wall to be established far enough away from the band’s performance without it feeling like a constricted, suffocating ride. You know what you’re getting out of From Beyond the moment it begins, yet are simultaneously receiving the confidence that you’re not going to suffer because of it.
One aspect that requires attention are the vocals. For the most part, the vocals are the usual gruff and bellowing force you’d naturally expect in any contemporary death metal release. But it’s essential to remember the band’s blackened element too, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the vocals, for there are numerous times throughout From Beyond’s runtime where the vocals, running along with a malicious timbre, will suddenly morph, adopting a far more sinister undertone. Curiously, the altering of the vocal performance doesn’t affect how we perceive the songwriting or riffs one bit. It’s difficult to accomplish this as the way we perceive a vocal delivery has a vast impact on how then the songwriting feels to us. But the band demonstrate they can go back and forth between the roaring and malignant variations of performance and still maintain the overarching essence their riffs possess.
In conclusion, From Beyond is this monolithic-scoped release that amazes us to remember this is primarily the work of a single man. Knowing Pneuma Hagion was founded, and its music written by, a single man, is astonishing when From Beyond sounds like it must surely have been a team of people behind their kits and posts. Pneuma Hagion is a band that’s only reached my attention rather recently and thus I’m glad to have been given the chance to check From Beyond out. It’s a fascinating release since it manages to fuse death and black metal together without the transitions between styles being obviously made; it respects its audience for it doesn’t try and outright by slam in your face where the changes are being made, it’s left to your own devices to see where the line is. For a record that’s also just as destructive, it’s not a harrowing experience; the wall of sound is abundantly present but at no point will you feel like the band are pressing too hard upon you. You’ve always got the chance to breathe, more so because the songwriting enables this in the first place. It’s not a constant drilling of your head and From Beyond does benefit from this, blending crushing soundscapes with these massive hammer blows of riffs and chords that slow the pace down, fleshing out the band’s potential. I thoroughly enjoyed this record as it’s been a hot minute since I checked out a newer work of crushing death metal. Well worth looking at upon release.
