Band:	Be'lakor
Album:	Stone's Reach
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	June 20, 2009
Guest review by:	Njord

01. Venator
02. From Scythe To Sceptre
03. Outlive The Hand
04. Sun's Delusion
05. Held In Hollows
06. Husks
07. Aspect
08. Countless Skies

When I listened to this album for the first time my first thought was "this is clearly melodic death, but there's something about it", something that marks the line between another copy and a new way of design from the same prototype. Despite the guitars following Gothenburg death metal, one innovation of this band is the demarcation of that style because there's no chorus/verse imposed law, there's no fear of falling into doom or entering solos at low speed. It's very important to be creative inside the musical genres and this Australian group achieve it in a brilliant way.

Turning to the instrumental analysis, it's important to start with the guitars because they are the core of Be'lakor's music. Following the old teachings of Gothenburg, the guitars are full of life, technical and extremely melodic. Ideal to revivalists of Dark Tranquillity's Damage Done and old Amorphis albums. In general the riffs aren't very heavy (the second riff of "Venator" and the middle riff of "Aspect" are good exceptions) and their best feature is the fine construction, always emphasizing the harmony between the guitars and the rest of the group. The use of acoustic guitars in some musics ("Scythe to Sceptre","Outlive the Hand") drive the melody to higher levels and transforms the album into a pleasant journey which is easy to listen because the excess is replaced by freshness. The solos are clearly more melodic than out-of-order demonstrations of velocity.

Inside the same context, the bass helps the guitars a lot, giving them the necessary support to create heaviness, although the main job is the rhythm along with the drums. Talking about this, the drums are especially good at the multi-task function: aggressive, calm and technical when necessary, still these are the least enthusiastic of all instruments of Be'lakor. On the contrary, the keyboards and piano are a great addition, they don't overrun the music entirely and help to write the melody through a feeling of innocence, almost entering into folk dominions ("Held in Hallows" is a good example).
Finally, the voice is amazingly harmonious despite the guttural screams of George Kosmas. The lyrics are easily noticeable along the music and talk about the pain and destruction of death in confrontation with the resistance and the fight for life.

About the negative aspects, it can be claimed that the band needs to work better with some song structures (mostly the entrances to the solos) as well as improve the harmony between the bass and the guitars. Also some challenge is needed at the rhythmic section. Despite all this, don't get me wrong, I consider this album a good opportunity of revivalism inside melodic death, just like I consider this a good album to please anyone who is searching for new visions inside the genre (Opeth did it during the last decade, Be'lakor might do it now).
It isn't a paradox, Stone's Reach is capable of pleasing those who want to hear both sides and that's possibly the best achievement of this album.