Haxprocess – Beyond What Eyes Can See
Release Date: 25th July 2025
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Progressive Death Metal.
FFO: Morbid Angel, Blood Incantation, Immolation.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Let’s get right into it. Some of the Old School Death Metal guys are going to really dig this album from the aspect of the drum recording. I think that instead of going for that “polished” sound that many contemporary DM acts are going for (such as Cryptopsy and Aborted), Haxprocess is really pushing into some of the techniques that harken back to days of the 1980s, where the hollow, tinny short reverb becomes a sonic characteristic of the record, flattening the sound out without making it thin. There is still a warmth and overall fuzziness that pervades across the whole album, but strung together, still, with an effects package that give the listener a smaller soundstage, which can affect the overall presentation of each track. All of that is to say, I think that the overall tone is very carefully-chosen to give a tone that I enjoyed for its unique signature.
I think that from a progressive sound point, each track has a tremendous width and quiver full of tempo and tonal variations. It’s not a wave or wall of sound for more than a few bars at a time. There’s never any overly-repetitive moments, leading the listener to almost experience literally dozens of miniature productions in literally each track, something that absolutely lends itself to leaning towards the progressive subgenre. However, Haxprocess does this completely by using heavy, death metal elements back-to-front. There’s no hack-kneed overabundance of pretty-sounding segments where clean guitars and vocals are used. It’s just pure, raw progressive death metal that leans heavily into gritty and bellowy tones. The progressive nature comes from the up-and-down musical phrasing and near-constant variations that inundate the entire record.
One of the things I absolutely loved is that the average run time of each track is around 10 minutes. That being said, it almost feels like each track is really about 5 individual tracks, something that is one of my favorite elements of certain progressive albums (See: An Abstract Illusion). I did see that the band is influenced by Blood Incantation, which is evident here. I think that the epic, long-track format is perfect for the cosmic horror death metal fan. The difference between, say, Absolute Elsewhere (this reviewer’s AOTY for 2024) and Beyond What Eyes Can See is that Haxprocess have focused more on the gritty death metal attitude instead of going full multi-genre, giving this album a different tonal presence and identity. Besides, we don’t want more of the same. We want artistic variations on brilliant ideas, which is what Haxprocess have done here.
Overall, Beyond What Eyes Can See is a fabulous production of progressive long-format metal with influences like Morbid Angel and Blood Incantation that features all of the darkness and grit that we have come to expect from a quality Transcending Obscurity release. It really ought to be on your “must listen” list this month if you are looking for something that is going to keep your blood rushing. I absolutely loved the album and consider it something that I would recommend for any fans of death metal in general, as it touches almost every death metal nerve- – musical, visceral, aggressive, mathy, hell…maybe even sexual for some of you fuckers out there. Don’t miss the chance to spin this one.
(5 / 5)
