ALBUM REVIEW: Laat Maar, Ik Verhuis Naar Het Bos – Beaten To Death

We’ve had our fair share of melodic takes on decidedly ‘non-melodic’ genres of heavy music over the years. At this point, some even dominate the scenes from which they emerged – take melodic metalcore, for example. Others, like melodic black metal, occupy more niche yet no less interesting subsections of their umbrella genres. But even in a world where such takes are no longer all that radical, the idea of ‘melodic grindcore’ still feels pretty insane. That’s exactly how Norwegian quintet BEATEN TO DEATH describe their music, and, honestly, that just about sums it up.

Laat Maar, Ik Verhuis Naar Het Bos is the band’s fifth record. In keeping with the bewildering music, even the album’s release plan is quite the headache. While the band released Laat Maar… on vinyl at the end of October, they did things differently for its digital counterpart, releasing one of each of the record’s four sides every other week from 13th November to 24th December. It’s ridiculous, chaotic, and kind of amusing – in many ways a perfect descriptor of the album itself too.

Each four track side of Laat Maar… sees the band ‘explore’ a different forest. First up is Mastbos, named after a forest in the Netherlands. Its opener Flatulence Of Emotions sees BEATEN TO DEATH tear straight out the gate with violent, punishing grind. They soon show what sets them apart as ‘melodic’ though, with a beautiful little piano break around 30 seconds in. The sonic bludgeoning swiftly resumes, and the whole thing’s over in less than a minute and a half. It’s a bewildering opening which does a good job of setting the tone for the whole record: sheer chaos. The rest of the side is of a similar quality, with the band firing out three short, sludgy, chaotic tracks with some real melodic touches. At points, they even evoke the reckless abandon of a band like THE CHARIOT, more so in their approach than as a direct sonic comparison.

As if things needed to be more complicated, BEATEN TO DEATH released sides two and three of Laat Maar… in reverse order. Side two, named after the band’s home forest of Østmarka, sees them lean more heavily into straight-up grind. This is especially clear in the unnamed vocalist’s particularly guttural deliveries. It does feel a little less creative than the first side, but still provides plenty of solid carnage. The side’s second track, (sixth on the record overall), Jeg Skal Lage Drakt Av Deg, deserves special mention. Another violent auditory assault, the song ends with a genuinely unsettling sample of what sounds like someone (or something’s) dying breaths.

Side three, entitled 青木ヶ原, is perhaps the strongest. It’s more in the vein of the unhinged, creative mayhem of the first side. The side’s fourth track, The Old Man And The Internet, is the longest of the record so far, and a firm overall highlight. With a mellow keys intro and some lovely melodic guitar parts, it’s actually quite beautiful. There’s still plenty of savagery too however, with guttural vocals, dissonant guitars and punishing blast beats. In many ways, it feels as though this track perfectly encapsulates exactly what the band mean by melodic grindcore.

There’s more beauty, and brutality, on the next side, named after Star Wars‘ iconic forest moon of Endor. These final four tracks end the record on a high. Album closer Crying On The Outside, Living On The Inside is particularly impressive, even managing to top The Old Man… in terms of beauty. The tracks also highlight an important truth about BEATEN TO DEATH; the band are definitely more interesting when they choose to experiment, rather than just pummel their listeners. That isn’t to say the more obviously pummelling sections are bad, it’s just the other stuff which sets the band apart as genuinely fascinating.

Some will surely accuse BEATEN TO DEATH of focusing too much on ‘wackiness’ on Laat Maar…. That’s definitely fair, but it’s also kind of the point. There’s no question the band are having a butt-load of fun on this record, and as a result it’s difficult for listeners not to do so as well. Melodic grindcore shouldn’t work, at points it doesn’t work, but BEATEN TO DEATH definitely hit more than they miss on Laat Maar…. In doing so, they provide listeners with a record that never gets boring, and is well worth repeated listens. Crucially, it’s an album which will likely surprise, and even confuse, the most eclectic of heavy music fans – and that’s something we should always welcome.

Rating: 8/10

Laat Maar, Ik Verhuis Naar Het Bos is out now via self-release. 

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