AN NCS PREMIERE: BEYOND GRACE – WELCOME TO THE NEW DARK AGES, PART 2

(Andy Synn presents an exclusive track-by-track premiere of his band’s new EP)

Despite current appearances, I largely try and keep my work with Beyond Grace and my work here at NoCleanSinging separate.

But with everything that’s happened recently (just under two weeks ago my mum was rushed to hospital, and then into emergency surgery, where she came very close to dying… although, thankfully, she pulled through and is now recovering) I didn’t have the time (or the energy) to set up a preview stream for our new EP (out this Friday).

Our gracious leader Islander, however, was kind enough to step up and – entirely unprompted – offer to host an exclusive premiere for us (an offer which, of course, I immediately accepted), which I thought would also be a great opportunity to provide some background info on each track as well.

So, without further ado, I am proud to present our new EP, Welcome to the New Dark Ages, Part 2.

01. UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES

The first track on the EP is also the first track we wrote for it (and also the first track we finished and had a chance to road-test earlier this year).

Riff-wise we wanted to play around a little more with the juxtaposition of both dissonance and melody – we tried to keep it both harsh and hooky, especially during the chorus (which was one of the first parts we wrote), and also tried to take further advantage of the fact that we functionally have two vocalists now, which is why there’s even more trade-offs (the catchy “Do as they say / not as they do… one rule for them / and another for you” back-and-forth in the chorus was something I came up with really early on) between Tim and myself on this one.

We also wanted to make this, for want of a better word, a slightly more “atmospheric” song, which is why there’s also a lot of space in this track (particularly going into the bridge) as a counterpoint to how punishingly dense it gets at times, and also why there’s an unexpected dash of moody clean vocals at one point (so as to further emphasise the juxtaposition of the song at its heaviest and at its most haunting).

We’ve all got our favourite tracks on the EP, that’s for sure, but I think this one is mine… probably because I feel like I really nailed it with the lyrics (which take aim at police brutality and systemic corruption – largely inspired by all the shit that the MET have gotten away with in recent years), as this one contains some of my favourite lines (“No-one is watching the watchmen, they do as they please” is one I really love) from the trilogy so far.

02. THE KILLING FLOOR

Musically this is probably the track which came together the quickest – once we had the intro/refrain riff, the stop-start verse, and the chorus in place we basically had the entire structure – and ended up being the obvious candidate for the EP’s single/video (watch the video for “The Killing Floor” here).

Originally I was working with a very different set of lyrics (I can’t remember exactly what they were now) but couldn’t get the verses and choruses to mesh, thematically, so I ended up dumping them and turning to an idea I had ages ago… one directly inspired by the novel Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (which, if you haven’t read, you really should).

I then stumbled across the book Cannibal Capitalism by Nancy Fraser (whose voice you can hear during the bridge, as it happens) and combined this with a few influences from the works of Boots Riley to craft a set of lyrics which I think strike a nice balance between cutting political polemic and classic Death Metal nastiness (the big “WE ARE WHAT WE EAT!” hook, in particular, is one of my favourite parts – though it was initially a little controversial when I first proposed it – as it can absolutely be read a few different ways).

As catchy as this one is, both guitar and vocal wise, I happen to think that the real stars are the drums here, because not only does Ed get to show off some impressive speed with both his hands and his feet, but there’s also a wealth of clever touches and unexpected twists (especially during the chorus) that really help elevate the song to another level.

03. WHITE BEAR

Obviously inspired by the Black Mirror episode of the same name (with some added George Orwell during the post-chorus/bridge section), lyrically the song takes an unflinching look at issues of crime and punishment, the dark allure (and the terrible toll) of mob justice, and the voyeuristic, vicarious thrill which many people take in witnessing the public suffering of others (especially if they “deserve it”).

We purposefully tried to push ourselves a little more towards the proggier end of the spectrum here, while also trying to keep the songwriting as tight as possible, and I think what I love most about this one (over and above the epic harmonies Tim and I got to do) is that while it combines a lot of different parts – including a massive, melodic chorus, a punchy, thrashy bridge refrain (inspired, in my head at least, by latter-day Kreator), and an obnoxiously heavy outro that doubles, and then triples, down on the Death Metal side of things – it still feels weirdly organic and natural, with the song getting heavier and heavier as it goes along.

Again, there’s a lot going on vocally here (I’m doing most of the harsh vocals, but some of the deepest gutturals are Tim, who also handles the primary clean vocals), but there’s also lots of cool subtleties that you might miss (I had a lot of fun with the bass lines on this one, for one thing, and both Chris and Tim – taking the first and second solos respectively – got to showcase their own distinct styles) on first listen.

Hopefully this one will be a real grower, as although it took the most work it’s also the one we’re perhaps the most proud of.

04. FRAGILE (STING COVER)

Last, but by no means least, we decided to add another “bonus” cover to the EP (streaming only) to give us an opportunity to play around a little more and try some different things, while also putting our own distinct spin on this Sting classic (while also still paying tribute to the original in some subtle ways).

The specific version we used as the basis for our cover was this one (give it a watch/listen and you’ll be able to spot which melodies, etc, we worked into our version) but, obviously, this is a very different take… albeit one that still maintains the song’s central anti-war/anti-violence message (even if the cover itself is far more violent).

We got to play this one live for the very first time (and the second time) last week and… let me tell you… it is very fast (right up until that post-solo/outro section, which is probably my favourite part) but also a lot of fun to play, so we might just keep it in the back pocket as a bonus/encore song in the future!

PRE-SAVE/PRE-ORDER/LISTEN NOW

Welcome to the New Dark Ages, Part 2 is out this Friday, but can be pre-saved/pre-ordered now using the links below.

• Pre-save the EP on Spotify
• Pre-order the EP on Bandcamp
• Pre-order the EP on Ampwall

We’d especially love for people to save and stream it on Spotify, as while we don’t get as much out of it in monetary terms (you’ll need to use Ampwall/Bandcamp if you want to support us that way) we’re currently trying to boost our listener numbers even further (and make sure you stream the first EP too, while you’re at it) as those can make all the difference when it comes to negotiating with labels/promoters, etc!