By Jonny Bakes
When a band claims to be “the universe’s favourite intergalactic metal band”, it’s a very bold claim that I can’t help but be compelled to verify for myself. This is how I’ve ended up spending my Saturday afternoon trying to wrap my head around ‘Multiversal’ which is the The Beast of Nod’s latest instalment of the science fiction tales of the Land of Nod. It already promises to be quite an ambitious feat of technical death metal with the appearance of some pretty high-profile guests including Joe Satriani and guitar wankery master Michael Angelo Batio. So without further ado, I had better strap myself in and get ready for a tour of ‘Multiversal’.
But first, a quick look at The Beast of Nod who are arguably more than just a band. They are a “multimedia project,” of which the band’s music forms the bulk of the output, but this isn’t the only thing that makes up The Beast of Nod. Their website also boasts a significant amount of articles and other written works that documents the lore of the Land of Nod through the encyclopedia, and other such findings of NEMO (The Near-Earth Monitoring Organisation) which makes for quite the package to get stuck into if you really want get the full Nod experience!
There’s quite a lot to take in with ‘Multiversal’ so it took a good couple of listens to make sure I’d picked up most of the elements going on! It’s certainly pretty technical, and at times strays into being slightly progressive too, and hits pretty hard overall. The frequent chopping and changing of rhythm and the heavy use of syncopation keeps you on your toes at all times and the level of guitar wankery displayed here might make you question why you bother playing guitar in the first place. Every now and again I get brief flashes of Dethklok coming through, and potentially even a little bit of Evil Scarecrow á la ‘Space Dementia’.
The first track that stood out to me, even before I had started listening to the album is ‘Call of the Squirrel’ which naturally stood out by name alone. This is one of the points of the album where I was able to pick up strong Dethklok vibes from the very first line of “you can’t smell death in space”. Using the encyclopedia, I discovered that this song is all about the sentient squirrel death machine which started out life as an ordinary squirrel before taking on a more humanoid form and increased powers! The harsh vocals of Paul Buckley are pretty fitting for the subject matter here, and it works perfectly with the pretty heavy nastiness that comes with it.
I quickly began to realise that the encyclopedia is a really important accompaniment to the album as it really helps to get the full experience, so I would strongly suggest that you take the time to really get to grips with the Nod lore to appreciate this album in its entirety! This is something that will appeal to those who like their music to be both heavy but still showcasing some impressive musical talent, there’s enough to entertain the fans of Allegaeon, Dethklok, and even Gojira, for a good while! With plenty to get stuck into as you dive deeper into the Land of Nod, it’s a gift that will keep on giving for a while I think and is certainly worth giving a listen to check it out for yourself.
- ‘Multiversal’ is released on 29 March. You can get your copy, and explore The Beat Of Nod’s musical galaxy, HERE.
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