Murder Of My Sweet – Beth Out Of Hell

Frontiers Records (2015)

Reviewer: Aaron Chatfield

Murder Of My Sweet is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and near musical genius, Daniel Flores. The Chilean born drummer, has consistently released epic soundscapes that can leave listeners breathless. If you aren’t familiar of his work, then this album will be a great starting place, but I’d also suggest Crash The System and the 2007 release from Mind’s Eye, A Gentleman’s Hurricane.

Beth Out Of Hell is a concept album, which brings to mind the aforementioned Mind’s Eye release or Seventh Wonders incredible album Mercy Falls. The synopsis of the story is one of Lucifer’s daughter, falling in love with the Archangel Michel, which was a story set at the end of the bands previous album, Bye Bye Lullaby.

The album kicks off with ‘Hell on Earth’, slowly building from some street sounds a melancholic piano and narration from Lucifer’s daughter herself. The strings start building and the track segues into our first real track, ‘The Awakening’. This is Epic, symphonic and glorious in every way. The production is clean and leaves space for each instrument and effect, plus Angelica Rylin’s wonderful vocals. Angelica doesn’t have quite the operatic vocals of bands like Nightwish or Epica, but for me she has a whole lot more emotion and feel. ‘World in Ashes‘, is the next track up, bringing the guitars to the front. A more driving song, that hints at a darker and slightly heavier style than the previous releases.

‘Always The Fugitive‘ continues the quality, followed by tracks like ‘Bitter Love‘ and ‘Requiem For A Ghost‘. The big challenge is trying to pick out the best tracks, as they are all solid numbers, massive aural textures, with solid melodies and hooks.

The tempo slows down for ‘Tide After Tide‘, and Daniel leads the vocal duties. A ballad to forbidden love, there is a slight swing feel to the bass (courtesy of new bassist, ex-Platitude, Patrik Janson) and the emotion demonstrated in Flores’ vocals is superb. The track is simply beautiful.

‘Poets By Default‘, ‘Heaven Succumb‘ and the aptly titles, ‘Means to an End‘, bring the opus to a close in the style we have grown accustomed to.

This is the type of album that is best listened to, with the lights down low, a smooth malt and a pair of quality headphones on, immersed in the music and the story. You need to live it. Overall Murder Of My Sweet has delivered a conceptual classic, that will be a highlight of Flores’ career for some time to come, whilst hinting a so much potential in the future. Now, I’m off to pour a glass of the good stuff and start from the beginning!