REVIEW: Beyond Extinction - Where They Gather

An album of triumph, pain, and determination for death metal group BEYOND EXTINCTION

releases this Friday. After the death of founding member ZACH SCOTT in 2023 at only 20 years old, the Essex band has overcome and adapted with passion and diligence to be where they stand today. Having brought new member DANNY RUSSEL into the fold, armed with his own vision to add to the band - he came up with the track Winter Sun even before officially joining! - his contributions have flowed seamlessly with the band’s visualisation of their sound and future.

This album has been three years in the making, starting in 2022 when guitarist JUDE BENNETT and the late SCOTT started working on demos for a future album. Naturally, events have caused the album to warp and evolve along with the members as they navigate this period in their lives. With plenty of change and turmoil, the album's sound was produced by ANDY MALLABY of OSIAH, who allowed them to get the most out of their writing and create the potent sound they've ended up with.

ANDY is far from the only big name associated with the album - guest features from ALEX TEYEN of BLACK TONGUE and JOSH DAVIES of INGESTED can be heard on Tyranny and Apache respectively. Both were released as singles in the past year, showcasing a pretty stacked collection of artists involved in the process of bringing this project to fruition. Following in the footsteps of their 2023 concept EP Nothing More Wretched, this album treads a similar path - this time revolving around an urban hellscape as the conceptual locale. A decimated metropolis of decay and suffering acts as the forefront for personal nightmares and traumas.

The visuals that the lyrics by JASPER HARPER induce are those of true horror, of plague pits and lungs filled with sewage. “Trust not in your fellow man.” are the words that open this album. Steady going at first, title track Where They Gather bursts into a rumbling breakdown, with gut-wrenching vocals. As the track slows, it’s brought back tenfold, with a low distant computerised voice muttering to you as the track fades into the next. “No faith, no trust, no soil to touch my feet and feel a home. Where they gather feels like hell to me” finishes the track, setting the foundations of the dystopian universe presented before you.

RUSSEL’s offering of Winter Sun starts out as a standard of the genre, but ramps up the drama in the middle with a slow break that utilises crisp, raspy vocals that positively shake the ground. As the track draws to a close, it distorts and breaks down, before dissolving into Mansions Burning on Bleak Horizons. The second half of this tenth track is note-worthy, alongside the striking lyrics “Starve. Every gluttonous pig dies hungry.” The Mines delivers a plethora of riffs and growls, and the mid-section breakdown is unbelievably satisfying, with fuzzy chugs that melt into a more complex, addictive drum-led section, and then cutting straight into the final outro of U-235. The imagery is laid on thick throughout, with desperation and suffering feeling like some of the lightest words to describe the world found within the album. Each track seeps into the next, allowing you to become immersed, and rightfully horrified.

Despite the harrowing journey this record has taken over the past three years, the power to

overcome and drive forward under the circumstances can be found throughout. Likewise, ZACH SCOTT’s riffs and influence can be heard all over the LP, and his legacy is most certainly intact with these thirteen tracks.

Score: 8/10

Where They Gather will be released on September 26th 2025.

Words: Danielle Henderson

Photos: Beyond Extinction