Filip Dupont’s mind must, at times, feel like it’s on the verge of bursting from the relentless flow of ideas, riffs, and creativity that pours out of him all year round. As the driving force behind an impressive roster of projects — Hemelbestormer, Ritual of the Dead Hand, Wolven, Entartung, Nox, and Lhaäd — this Belgian musical polymath constantly reveals a different facet of his artistry. Yet one thing remains consistent throughout: quality. Whatever he touches, it sounds sincere, intense, and steeped in vision. And that’s no different on Beyond, the third album by Lhaäd, following Beneath and Below, and once again released through the esteemed German label Amor Fati.
With Lhaäd, Dupont moves within the shadowy realm of Black Metal, though with a distinct and unmistakably personal twist. As part of The Nox Entity Collective, he infuses his work with subtle industrial undertones and a significant dose of atmosphere. The musical references speak volumes: the dark, experimental nature of Thorns, the cosmic nihilism of Darkspace — and yet Lhaäd never feels like a pastiche. This is individuality in its purest form.
What makes Beyond particularly special is its place within a thematic trilogy centered around the deep sea — more specifically, the Hadal zone. The name Lhaäd is no coincidence; it’s an anagram of Hadal. The hadopelagic zone is the deepest part of the ocean, a grim and impenetrable world where light never reaches and darkness reigns supreme. It’s a place where human comprehension falters, where only silence, crushing pressure, and unknown forms of life persist. Inspired by this environment — named after Hades, the Greek god of the underworld — Lhaäd drags the listener into a sonic abyss from which there is no escape.
Beyond serves as the final chapter in this journey to the bottom of our existence. Where Below marked the initial descent and Beneath captured the oppressive stillness of the depths, Beyond stretches past the familiar. As if Lhaäd is no longer bound by the physical reality of the ocean’s depths, but instead reaches toward the metaphysical — toward what lies beyond the limits of perception. The result is a pitch-black, multilayered, and at times even hallucinatory listening experience, where dissonance, texture, and trance-like repetition ebb and flow in a hypnotic cadence.
Lhaäd is more than a Black Metal project. It’s a sonic exploration, an inward expedition, a ritual. And Beyond is the conclusion of a trilogy that you don’t merely hear — you feel it, down to the deepest regions of your being.
85/100
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