Second in the trilogy of Drift albums released on Slaughter
Productions, The Beyond takes on a minimal yet darker approach,
sheding the dense cavernous aspect of the preceding album, Exile.
Replaced, is a more introspective Autumnal Dark Ambient style,
which will become Drift's trademark on following releases. However,
Gabrielle Giuliani never abandons the isolationist atmosphere
he previously established. The result is a masterwork in Ambient
Industrial Noise.
Winds howl, rain soaked leaves are walked on, broken branches
reverberate to the abyss, and voices of unknown origin lurk in the
background. In a sense, much of the album's noisier moments play like
an answer to the soundtrack to the Jean Rollin filmed dream sequences
of Jess Franco's "A Virgin Among the Living Dead". Given the album's
namesake, one can't help to think Giuliani had Euro-horror cinema on
his mind while channeling these soundscapes.
Unlike the suffocating characteristics of the Exile album, Giuliani
uses The Beyond to experiment with silence and space. Throughout
"Before Silence" the listener is faced with seeming inactivity
quietly under a thick layer of fog and tape hiss. While "Under" will
undergo prolonged moments of near silence in its conclusion. It's
only in the piercing horror feedback of the finale "My Eyes Still
See" which brings the listener back from the lull in what is the most
disconcerting of all Drift compositions. The torment the listener
will endure on this track is truly in Atrax Morgue fashion up until its
conclusion, making way for the next album Earthquake.