BEYOND EXTINCTION: The constant cycle of human suffering in Where They Gather

You'd think that when deathcore heavyweights BEYOND EXTINCTION are getting in the zone to play a show, they'd live up to their status of being one of the biggest rising stars in extreme music. As they're bombing it down the highway blasting the silky tones of DURAN DURAN and SPANDAU BALLET - their picks, of course - the band are anticipating an intense set, wall-to-wall with brutal bangers. “You should hear what we play in the van!” begins guitarist JUDE BENNETT “You'd imagine it to be really hardcore stuff, but it's everything from West Coast hip hop to PHILL COLLINS and '80s pop, or even Middle Eastern music if NIALL [Ali, drummer] is in charge of the playlist.”

In some ways, this is the crucial component of BEYOND EXTINCTION: they are not afraid to break the rules of the extreme if their music demands it. 2025 brought with it the band's raucous full-length debut, Where They Gather, serving as the clarion call for moshers everywhere to take up arms and bash their heads together, a violent display of - as they call it - malicious “dome-on-dome” action. The record's successes lie in nurturing their hard-hitting deathcore roots, whilst also championing natural experimentation to refine that raw edge. 

For DANNY RUSSEL, who also plays guitar, authenticity does not begin with ripping up the rule book, but coming into a new project with no constraints. “Our main priority is groove more than anything, more than a flashy riff. You don't need a technical riff or a crazy guitar solo to have a good song. If the riff or the groove is hooky and addictive enough, then you’ve won.”

The band then muse that the intoxicating Mansions Burning On Bleak Horizons follows the same structure of a pop song, and whilst JUDE's love of prog was enough for the rest of the band to tell him to put the odd time signature down, in places this seeps into their overall sound. He states, “It’s about having that restraint to go, 'Yes, this is tasteful, and this is enough for this part.’ I feel like we do quite a good job of establishing something and allowing someone to feel it for a bit, instead of just throwing you around with blast beats all the time.”

In all this chaos, the band are joined by BLACK TONGUE's ALEX TEYEN and JOSH DAVIES from INGESTED to establish firm deathcore foundations, as JUDE explains, “We just reached out to both of them. We got ALEX through a mutual friend, and we've known JOSH for years. It just naturally fell into place.” For the band, who began to write the record after losing founding member ZACH SCOTT in 2023, getting TEYEN on Tyranny felt full circle as BLACK TONGUE had influenced a lot of their early writing.

“I don't like looking at an album where the track listing starts to get like DAVID GUETTA or DJ KHALED, with a feature on every song.” DANNY muses, reflecting on the intricacies of Where They Gather. When it comes to the record, everything was planned meticulously, inspired by, as they put it, “the constant cycle of human suffering.” 

“The ambition was to captivate the listener and also expose them to the real-life horrors that we, as a species, experience. What's interesting is that we started writing this album three years ago, and with the new conflicts happening across the globe, the lyrics seem even more relevant than when we started. It just proves that it's the constant way of things, a circle of violence.” 

JUDE expands on this, “We wanted it to be this dense block of storytelling and misery that front to back just feels real.” In everything, this is the most dense and asphyxiating record the band have created, and the first without ZACH. Still, his presence lingers throughout the album, after the release of their two EP's 2021's The Fatal Flaws Of Humankind and 2023's Nothing More Wretched. 

Above it all, BEYOND EXTINCTION has set out to capture a universal feeling: One that details the excruciating nature of suffering, but also champions persistence and strength through turbulent times. 2025 saw the band partake in a smattering of brutal shows across the UK, with a detour to Ireland for good measure. However, the real crowning moment will be this March for their unmissable album release show in London, showcasing the inescapable ferocity of deathcore on the rise.

Words: Amber Brooks and Dollie Himuyandi

Photo: John Sudgen