‘I’ll take that one step further: depending on mood, Be’lakor is probably my favorite melo-death band running, and their sophomore Stone’s Reach may damn well be my favorite album that’s ever come from that sphere.‘
-Iain Ferguson
Release date: June 20, 2009 | Prime Cuts | Facebook | Instagram | Website
Melodic death metal has a certain set of established tropes, and there are pitfalls attached to every single one of them. But when a band avoids those by being neither too cheesy nor excessively brutal, you get that sweet spot of well-balanced epicness and heaviness. Throw in a good scoop of progressive tendencies and you get Stone’s Reach, the 2009 masterpiece by Australian titans Be’lakor, who lead the charge with pensive melancholy.
Iain Ferguson
Melodic death metal, despite generally being more accessible than its rugged parent genre, can be a tough nut to crack for me sometimes. Sure, the classic bands like At The Gates are impeccable, but the subgenre’s various mutations tend to be a harder sell for me. The more -core leaning side of the genre has its moments (Soilwork) but does tend to be iffy, while the side of the genre with that more ‘power metal with growls’ vibe is pretty much universally a pass (alright, Kalmah is fun). The one specific sound that does tend to work for me, though, is the more somber, expansive take on the genre championed by bands like Insomnium and today’s focus, Be’lakor.
I’ll take that one step further: depending on mood, Be’lakor is probably my favorite melo-death band running, and their sophomore Stone’s Reach may damn well be my favorite album that’s ever come from that sphere. Melding the choppy riffing and harmonized leads of their forebears with an inclination towards the elegiacally progressive, the Aussie five-piece struck absolute gold across the hour that comprises Stone’s Reach. It’s the kind of album that, despite being longer than I usually prefer, never outstays its welcome or feels overblown in its expressive majesty.
A subdued drum intro and gloomy arpeggios announce the opener “Venator”, and right off the bat Be’lakor makes their approach clear: the songs across Stone’s Reach are broad and feature cycles of riffs and melodies, occasionally recalling earlier motifs but always flowing forward with intensity that ebbs and flows in similar measure, all drenched in a pensive sense of melancholy. The following “From Scythe to Sceptre” is one of the more brief chapters the album, but sits as a personal favorite for its punchy riff work, beautiful acoustic break, and a final minute that I’d argue is the best stretch of music that Opeth never wrote.
Practically every song across Stone’s Reach is a journey, with some little feature to set it apart. Synths and keys make their presence more known across “Outlive the Hand”, adding a more dramatic flair to the intro build and swelling beneath the tracks latter half. “Sun’s Delusion” is one of the more expansive songs on offer here with a constant flow of great riffing in their own choppy, punctuated style, while “Held in Hollows” packs some great faster riffs and a nimble guitar solo. The acoustic instrumental interlude “Husks” is just beautiful, while “Aspect” plays with some trickier rhythms, rapid tremolos, and another great yet brief solo to make full use of its (relatively) shorter runtime.
And then there’s “Countless Skies”. Glorious “Countless Skies”. Despite being the longest track on the album at a solid ten minutes, every second of “Countless Skies” is just perfect. The moody intro flowing to those gruff growls over beautiful piano. That soaring guitar harmony to end all guitar harmonies, and the deft staccato riff that follows. It’s an constant flow of fresh ideas and sublime riffage , and by the time that harmony explodes back into mix late into the song after a great piano feature, it practically guarantees chills down the spine before that absolutely gorgeous outro progression. Put bluntly, it’s my favorite single song to ever come out of the melodic death metal world, and it’s no wonder the band Countless Skies felt inspired to take its title for their own work.
Stone’s Reach marked the moment Be’lakor assumed their mantle as one of melodic death metal’s brightest lights. The incredible part is that their subsequent work hasn’t failed to live up to the standard they set here. Some out there would argue 2012’s Of Breath and Bone was even better, which I would disagree with but fully understand. Later on, the more diverse and progressive inclinations of 2016’s Vessels have established it as a runner up for my favorite album in Be’lakor‘s discography. Coherence was similarly great at its 2021 release, and by their usual pacing I believe we’ll be due for a new Be’lakor album soon. That, of course, will likely be another melodeath marvel, but I’m not sure if melodeath, whether in Be’lakor‘s own hands or those of their strongest brethren, will ever fully beat out Stone’s Reach.
Stone’s Reach is a subgenre honed to perfection, a beautiful album through and through which doesn’t skimp on metallic muscle to power itself along. It’s the kind of album I knew would stick for me through the long haul from the first listen, and it made me a forever dedicated fan of the band. The kind of album that resonates within the spirit, and can bring one close to the verge of tears at its most potent, or at least a strong wave of goosebumps. Or, if you’re not into that kind of thing, it’s still an album full of sick melodeath riffs and adventurous songwriting that throws ideas at listeners as if their well would never run dry. Maybe it won’t, maybe it will, but Stone’s Reach will always stand as a nigh-on perfect melodic death metal album and the brightest jewel in Be’lakor‘s downcast crown.
Toni Meese
My relationship to metal, especially its aesthetics, is a complicated one. Metal was my gateway into music and is still a huge part of my musical identity. Nevertheless, there was always an aspect of it I never really vibed with – be it on festival grounds, or on the sound/visuals of a band. There is certain branches of, in absence of a better term, epicness which always felt incredibly silly to me.
Many years ago, a friend of mine described his admiration for Manowar through a phrase which summed up pretty good what felt repelling to me: ‘Their songs sound like they are marching into battle‘. It was this pathos, these theatrics, which always felt very weird and performative to me, and it made me dislike a huge portion of metal. Nowadays, I can reflect and contextualize on that, but it still affects me to this day.
This little anecdote makes my appreciation for Australian melodic death metal band Be’lakor extremely baffling to me. This band feels like ‘marching into battle‘, cheesy keyboards included, but their branch of midtempo melo-death, carried by riff after riff after riff, made me power through my conditioning. Yeah, it’s epic and drenched in pathos, but their songs have a progressive edge to them, which gives them this little extra piece of mojo to make me enjoy the entire cheese platter and have me asking for more in the process.
While I took a listen to Be’lakor‘s debut album, The Frail Tide, back in 2007 due to some underground praise, it was their 2009’s epic (unironic term this time around) Stone’s Reach which carved a very niche sound which I quickly grew to love. I generally enjoy bands like Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum, In Mourning, Shylmagoghnar, or others in that vein, and while no other band tickles that specific itch quite like Be’lakor does, they paved the way for me to enjoy those bands in the first place.
All that enjoyment stems from the DNA of Stone’s Reach, a record which shines mainly through the abundance of amazing riffs and guitar solos. The vocals are fine, but I would put them more in the category of ‘serviceable’. There is always an interesting dichotomy when you like something, especially if you dissect its elements. Do you like something because of certain elements, or despite of certain elements? Nothing on Stone’s Reach gets put in the latter category, but, like I already stated, the riffs are where the magic happens. The band displayed an incredible sense of arranging melodies and motifs throughout their career, and nowhere is that more apparent than on Stone’s Reach. Man, that riff in “Sun’s Delusion” at around 2:33min. Damn.
Be’lakor has yet to release a bad album, but Stone’s Reach is arguably their peak – although I would argue that its successor, Of Breath and Bone, is nearly as good. If you never checked this band out, or if you’ve forgotten about them, now is the time to drench yourself in riffs. The only band I would force myself to helicopter my greying mane for.
