Beyond the Black confirmed —if it was still necessary— that Germany knows what metal music is like, and particularly symphonic metal in their case. After winning the Metal Hammer 2015 of “Best Debut”, they confirmed their talents with 5th studio albums.
I personally discovered them with their album “Horizons” with tracks such as “Some Kind of Monster” and “Paralyzed”. Since then, I have been following what they are doing and I was looking forward to hearing their new album, "Break the Silence", released on January 9th 2026.
The band released amazing singles before that: “Rising High”, the first track of the album, “Break the Silence”, “The Art of Being Alone” with the singer of Lord of the Lost and finally “Ravens” in December, a little more than one month before the final release of the album. Four singles were more than enough to fire up my interest. But isn't it quite a lot if we consider that the album contains ten tracks in total?
This new album is in line with what Beyond the Black did before and the two first tracks were not surprising: we can find their fresh and powerful sound with the amazing voice of Jennifer Habenwho carries the band since the beginning. It is good and it works! And for sure the beautiful and deep lyrics with themes such as inner strength and resilience, but also sadness and pain. Still one thing I love about this band is their ability to talk about heavy subjects without making it depressing.
“The Art of Being Alone”, third song of this album, is a very powerful track with the participation of Chris Harms (Lord of the Lost). His deep voice brings another dimension to Jennifer Haben's sublime vocals. This song is for me the turning point of the album: followed by “Let There Be Rain” and the mysterious Bulgarian backing vocals, it announces a wind of novelty. Beyond the Black is always recognizable but never stagnant: they keep trying new things.
We have a little break with the beautiful ballad “Raven” dedicated to the fans before going on with “The Flood” and its great rhythm. “Are you ready for the flood?”, for sure we are ready for whatever Beyond the Black serves us! And the next track is a nice collaboration with Asami of Lovebites called “Can You Hear Me” that goes even faster.
The biggest surprise of the album for me —pleading guilty about the fact that I am French— is probably the 9th track, “(la vie est un) Cinéma”. The lyrics are a mix of French and English, and I give 10/10 for Jennifer ’s pronunciation! “Veux-tu décoller, t’envoler ce soir ?” (do you want to take off, fly away tonight) I say “oui” (yes)!
A určitě vzlétneme s posledními dvěma skladbami alba, „Hologram” a „Weltschmerz”. Poslední skladba v němčině a angličtině s názvem „světová únava” nám připomíná počátky kapely. Jedno je jisté: po poslechu tohoto posledního alba nemůžu být unavená z Beyond the Black!
I give a solid 80 %to this album: it is great, although I find it a little bit too short (10 tracks – 37 minutes) and it is not a revolutionary one, but still a very good musical experience in the line of what we are used to expect from the group. Beyond the Black!
Written by Céline Fetel
Edited by Kerry Lynx