Beyond the Black – Break the Silence

Happy 2026, people! Let’s kick it off with our review of Beyond the Black’s Break the Silence.

Germany’s Beyond the Black is the first in a hopefully long list of interesting releases this year. The symphonic metal band has just released its sixth album; the first since their self-titled album three years ago. Counting ten songs in total, with a whopping five of them already released as singles during the past few months, it offers bite-sized chunks of symphonic goodness whilst only clocking in at a little over thirty-seven minutes. With only three songs that exceed the four-minute mark, this makes for a delightfully breezy affair. But is it any good, you may ask? Why yes.

Fans of the band will know what to expect here. Led by vocalist Jennifer Haben, the band delivers ten metallic nuggets that are high on pop sensibilities and incorporate an abundance of different ethnic influences, from folk to world music to a song sung partially in French, as well as one in German. Most of it is great and Break the Silence kicks off with the energetic opener Rising High, which is a good but not exactly great opener that features some non-lyrical backing vocals to drive the song. It’s good, it’s upbeat, it will probably do well live, but the following title track perhaps should have been the opener here. It sounds a tad more traditional than Rising High and would have eased in listeners both old and new a bit better. The anthemic The Art of Being Alone features Chris Harms from Lord of the Lost on guest vocals and by now Break the Silence is running on full steam.

The singular highlight of the album, for me at least, is the terrific Let There Be Rain, which features a Bulgarian vocal troupe chanting throughout the chorus, turning it into both an incredibly catchy but also slightly mysterious song. Apparently it evokes an ancient rain invoking ritual from the Balkan lands, directed to the god Perun and his wife Perperuna, the goddess of rain. It’s great stuff, will live rent-free in your head for years to come and features an awesome guitar solo to boot.

Break the Silence never really recovers from the awesomeness of Let There Be Rain, but the rest of the album is absolutely solid as well. Ravens is a power ballad that will undoubtedly do well live. The Flood, with its distorted male vocals and electronics, is a bit too modern for me and sticks out like the lone sore thumb that is on this record, but that’s not to say it’s a bad song per se. Can You Hear Me features Asami from Lovebites on guest vocal duties and delivers another fist-bumping chorus, just like the late-album highlight Hologram does. And then we get the two (mostly) foreign language tracks, (La vie est un) Cinéma and the haunting, cinematic closer Weltschmerz, rounding off things in style and grace.

Beyond the Black’s sixth full-length effort deserves credits for once again pushing the boundaries of what this band is capable of and known for. It’s a distinctly European sounding, symphonic power metal record that will please fans of the genre. But it also introduces new styles and new influences. Musically, everything here is definitely on point, although the production sounds a bit muffled in places and would have benefited from a clearer sound, allowing all elements to breathe a little more. Star of the show, as always, is Jennifer Haben, who continues to grow as a vocalist and shines here with a demanding and powerful vocal performance. It’s a strong start to the European metal year and I for one can’t wait to see how all of this will turn out live.

Label: Nuclear Blast

Buy it here: https://www.beyondtheblack-shop.com/

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