Hailing from Belgium comes Black Metal band LHAAD. This is the band’s second full-length album, and it has six movements, all titled the album’s name. The first song is “Beneath I.” Dark tones build from what sounds like underwater. Then, there is an explosion of sound…an ominous wall of riffs, furious drumming, and tortured vocals. The song isn’t without snippets of melody, as evidenced in the brief clean vocals, but it’s mostly about the horrid offering of blood and rotted organs that the band presents.  

“Beneath II” has more shadowy and aggressive tones, and the bite of the song is akin to a viper sinking his teeth into your flesh. Give it time, and poison will do its job. It settles for just a spell, but the torturer will not let up. “Beneath III” begins with more watery sounds, in keeping with the blue tones of the album cover. It is thick, tense, and harrowing in scope. When it settles, there are eerie background notes, and the vocals thicken with a second voice. “Beneath IV” rumbles from the machine gun drumming, seeming to rattle right out of its cage. Notes of warning also rise up and a voice in the back of your head yells, “close your eyes.”

“Beneath V” has another deeply terrifying sound. It rolls forth, leaving a trail of fire behind it, slows for a spell with a foul voice in the air, and then the sounds returns. It has a combination of depressive elements and angry ones. “Beneath VI” closes the album. Winds whip up in the opening, leading to a slow and grinding pace of death. The beast growls in delight, as his army tears up the world. As it fades, distant thunder rumbles. Like the deep blue tones in the album cover, and the mysterious creatures that swim in the depths, the serene cover is not what it seems. This is deeply disturbing in every good meaning of that phrase. This album paints a dismal and barren landscape of eternal suffering.