To start with, the band's ancestry can be considered as alien to the "Stone's Reach" musician character that comprises strong influences from the Swedish melodic Death Metal scene. Fortunately, the album does not follow the already crowded path of the aforementioned genre and tries to create something different that overall can be characterized as promising. The new frontiers that BE'LAKOR try to open with "Stone's Reach" in the Gothenburg scene have to do with some progressive underlining structures that make a distinct stand through the song durations. Indeed, the durations are on average eight minutes long and this can be considered as a drawback for many metalheads who have erased the term 'progressive' in their Metal dictionary. Even though, I considered myself part of this group who cannot stand more than a minute with bands like DREAM THEATER I found many good elements on BE'LAKOR's debut via Kolony Records. Like the depressive DARK TRANQUILLITY atmosphere with the fitting growling vocals and the very good twin guitar riffs featured with generous doses of melody. The tempo changes happen the right moments and thus do not confuse the listener who in similar cases forgets that she/he is listening to a single song. On the contrary, BE'LAKOR keep the listener's interest in high levels even during the 'long' "Countless Skies" that closes the album after 10 minutes.

I believe the golden recipe for "Stone's Reach' has to do with the guitar work that justifies the Swedish spawned influences wrapped around an excellent sound production blending all these elements together in a solid result comprising many 'excuses' to headbang. Things get better after some additional CD spins that reveal all the different flavors and give you more space to sink your teeth in. I believe that BE'LAKOR will eventually add Australia in the great Metal map under the banner of the Swedish melodic Death Metal scene that is used almost exclusively to Europe based bands.