Leafblade – Beyond, Beyond

While Anathema are taking an eternity to release their long overdue eight album, guitarist Danny Cavanagh pours out his creative energies somewhere else, going out on solo tours and collaborating with kindred artists like former The Gathering singer Anneke van Giersbergen and long time friend, Sean Jude, who is something of a troubadour stuck in the new millennium.
Primarily, the creative vision of Jude, Leadflade’s music dwells on smooth folk ambiences with a strong Celtic/Medieval influence. Each song trails into a gentle acoustic drive exhorting a pastoral quietude and a troubadour feel, like crossing a darker and more despondent The Chieftains with someone like Bonnie Prince Billy.
A good effort, ‘Beyond, Beyond’ is not everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m afraid this type of medieval music doesn’t really do much for me. The only knot that ‘Beyond, Beyond’ has in relation to metal music, is merely the presence of Anathema’s guitarist on additional orchestrations and acoustic guitar, so probably it will also be overlooked by most of you.
Anyway, if you can endure 55 minutes of acoustic-driven music with plenty of troubadour vocal harmonies, either hummed either chanted, without falling asleep, perhaps ‘Beyond, Beyond’ has something to offer you. (6/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.myspace.com/leafblade
Label info: www.aftermath-music.com