From the moment ‘Furthur’ begins, you feel as if you’re embarking on a hypnotic, psychedelic journey through a portal of light and surreal beauty. The Cosmic Dead transport listeners through space and time in much the same way Dave Bowman traverses the final 23 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s the perfect introduction to the band’s immersive sonic universe, with eerie textures and cosmic soundscapes that set the stage for a thrilling voyage into the unknown on their latest album, Beyond the Beyond.
Following their 2024 release, Infinite Peaks, Beyond the Beyond isn’t simply another psychedelic record, it’s the ultimate trip. It’s a sprawling, space-rock odyssey filled with droning atmospheres and relentless momentum that demands repeated listens. The album evokes the spirit of Hawkwind while drawing comparisons to Motorpsycho, Ash Ra Tempel, CAN, and even the 666 era of Aphrodite’s Child, blending those influences into something uniquely intoxicating.
Released through Heavy Psych Sounds, Beyond the Beyond embraces inter-dimensional space travel with the dazzling intensity of a planetarium laser show. It’s the kind of album that invites listeners to sit back, lose themselves, and experience every swirling layer as if preparing for lift-off.
That launch sequence begins with ‘Stronger,’ whose swirling synthesisers steadily build anticipation before exploding into motion. The track subtly tips its hat to Radiohead’s ‘The National Anthem’ from Kid A, driven by looping bass lines, wah-soaked guitars, and dense, hypnotic arrangements that constantly evolve.
‘Aurora’ unveils The Cosmic Dead’s dystopian landscape with ominous, tribal-inspired bass patterns and Vangelis-esque synthesisers that paint a haunting post-apocalyptic world. It conjures vivid images reminiscent of Blade Runner and the 2008 survival horror game Dead Space, gradually shifting from a slow-burning crawl into a full-throttle surge, as though the listener is being pulled deeper into a collapsing black hole.
Closing the album’s cosmic voyage is ‘Aether’. Here, The Cosmic Dead unleash towering waves of droning guitars and hallucinatory terror, drawing listeners into a swirling nightmare of sinister vocal chants and crushing instrumentation.
The vocals recall Lee Dorrian, imagining an alternate reality where Cathedral evolved beyond doom metal and ventured fully into space rock. The result feels less like traditional science fiction and more like stepping into the surreal pages of Heavy Metal magazine, embracing psychedelic fantasy over the familiar mythology of pretentious franchises like Star Trek or Star Wars.
As a follow-up to Infinite Peaks, Beyond the Beyond is a remarkable achievement that showcases The Cosmic Dead at their most adventurous and confident. It’s an album that rewards repeated exploration, revealing new textures and hidden details with every listen.
More importantly, it proves the band continues to push their creative boundaries, suggesting that even more ambitious journeys lie ahead as they continue carving out their place in modern psychedelic and space rock throughout the latter half of the 2020s.
