The White Beyond

ThouShaltNot | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 16, 2007)
• Original Release Date: July 16, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Dancing Ferret
• ASIN: B0000C0FAA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #392,053 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Subliminally Hypnotic, June 16, 2004

By 

CreepyT "CreepyTendencies" (Colorado, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The White Beyond (Audio CD)

ThouShaltNot might be considered a new age version of the Pet Shop Boys, sounding at times akin to Depeche Mode, with lush industrial and heavily layered beats, introspective and philosophical lyrics, and an amazing vocalist. This Philadelphia trio combines modern gothic and electronic music with orchestral ingenuity in an extremely danceable and catchy way! Though this album, as are other works by this group, is indeed a venerable nod to music of the 80's, ThouShaltNot adds their own flare making their musical style seem fresh and modern.

The fact that ThouShaltNot's musical style seeps into so many overlapping genres makes them easily accessible to fans of gothic, industrial, synthpop, and rock music, and this is their most accessible album yet. Not only are these three men excellent musicians, but the lyrical themes found in their music are highly emotional and intellectual in subject matter. Many of the lyrics heard on this album, as in their previous release "The Holiness of Now," are deeply religious and ruminative, forcing the listener to think and not just listen.

Alexx Reed's vocals hardly stray from a mid-range, mellow yet classy spoken word. Jeremy Long's piano, guitars and backing vocals, in addition to Aaron Fuleki's programming and percussion complement Alexx quite well. "The White Beyond" is most certainly a culmination of hard work from all of those involved, and shows advancement and refinement of this incredible group.

Some standout tracks:

Track 1: "Inside of You, In Spite of You" - Amazing opening track with extremely catchy lyrics. Just try to not get this song stuck in your head!

Track 4: "We Could Have Flown Like Pollen" - A great beat and emotional and introspective lyrics.

Track 6: "Glaciers" - Probably one of the more heavily electronic and industrial songs on the album. Highly energetic and danceable!

Track 10: "Trial by Fire" - Probably my favorite song on the album, and certainly one of the most accessible songs by this band. The lyrics are some that I'm sure everyone can relate to.

Track 12: "The White Beyond" - Epic lyrics combined with incredible instrumentals. Unfortunately, Alexx seems to be forcing some of the notes on this song and stretches his vocal range to its limits. A great song nonetheless!

This kind of raw emotion, combined with an absolutely incredible musical talent, is not often found in several of the bands producing music today, which makes this album and this group all that much more of a gem! Everyone should have a copy of this CD!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely breathtaking..., June 24, 2004

By 

Danny "Slap Happy Wrath" (Newport News, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White Beyond (Audio CD)

I don't ever write these, but I had to when I saw this title...I am a fan of all forms of synthpop, from early 80's to modern EBM, from Pet Shop Boys to De/Vision...there's been a shortage of modern synthpop of this quality lately, with weak cheezy releases by the likes of Apoptygma Berserk and Monofader and such (not that I don't like Apop, just don't feel like they are able to be taken too seriously)...if you're a fan of the more sophisticated synthpop, with the heart of VNV Nation, melodic talent of Tears for Fears and the complexity of Depeche Mode...this is a title that ranks with the best, though it doesn't seem the audience has recognized them, they need to be up there. It's that good.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Their Breakthrough Album, January 11, 2004

By 

Philip Sandifer (Gainesville, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White Beyond (Audio CD)

I'm puzzled by the reviewer who claims that Holiness of Now is a superior album to this. Although Holiness is certainly a great album, after hearing The White Beyond, it is difficult to see even Holiness's best moments as anything but preludes to this.

The album opens with "Inside of You, In Spite of You," a driving number with lyrics that at once seem to evoke God ("I am the dawn of ages/I am the days seen through/I'm final entropy") and still fit into the genre of crazed stalker song ("I am in your future/I am in your past... I am inside of you, in spite of you"), all without once being offensive or polemical.

From that it moves to "Cardinal Directions," a song that fuses the band's apparent love of blippy 80s synth pop (It's main synth line sounds like it could have been lifted directly from a Mega Man game) with a harder rock sensibility. The first single off the album, and a fine one at that.

From there, we have "Come a Time," in which, faced with the rise of rap rock, ThouShaltNot asks "Why not do Goth Rap?" Upon inventing a genre, they promptly master it with this song, seemingly sung to the devil on the eve of the Apocalypse ("And when you're called to serve, will you have the nerve to do all that you know is wrong / Just to save your skin no matter which side wins, just to know that you were there all along / Is it better to reign in a world of pain then to serve a cause divine?")

Next is "We Could Have Flown Like Pollen," a song which could have been many lesser band's greatst work, but unfortunately comes off as one of this band's weaker songs.

After that, TSN shifts into ballad mode with the understated "The Ocean Is Your Voice." Even this slow ballad about a love affair in the rawest and most violent part of its end has a crescendoing intensity to it, however, making it one of the album's hidden gems.

The sixth track, "Glaciers," is a return to the energetic and catchy dance numbers that opened it - a trancy synth-driven number about the physicality of existance ("Taste the cells dividing / All to come and all that's been."). The song

On "100 Generations," the band shows the depth of their musical knowledge with a densely layered song that they describe on their website as containing "five guitars, four drumsets, four vocal parts (one of which is heavily layered), bass, a whisper track, and more synth than is really reasonable." It also, apparently, has a very subtle accordian line.

The next track, "The Insistence on Solid Floors," is a pallete cleansing instrumental number - nuanced and subtle.

Track nine, "G.L.M." may be the strangest track on the album - a fast-paced song sung with delightful hamminess, while its lyrics ground it in a very visceral sense of horror.

Following that is "Trial By Fire," an unabashedly poppy number with riffs that pay homage to Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" and Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People," while crafting their own sound. Despite its trashy and bouncy pop aspirations, the song still contains the band's trademark wordy philosophical ruminations ("I dust away the plaster / From off your breathing body / You're clutching your autonomy / You'll never be the same.")

After that, the album winds down with a pair of closely related songs. The first, "Song for the Dying," is a sprawling epic number that requires many listenings to really get to the subtlty of it. Still, even the first listen will bring a smile to your face with its brief homage to the Smashing Pumpkins' greatest hit.

The second, "The White Beyond," is even more epic, with a rich string backing, counterpointed by occasional dissonant drumming. The lyrics reach back across the album, evoking several of the previous tracks, and giving the album a real sense of reach and depth.

The final track, "(breathe again)," is another instrumental, providing a quiet counterpoint and musical resolution to the crashing end of "The White Beyond." It is not a song you will ever decide, "Hey, I think I'll give this a listen," but it fittingly ties off the album.

Anyone who wishes that Depeche Mode were just a bit harder will love this album. Actually, I take that back. Anyone with the remotest amount of taste will love this album.