Outlaw - Reaching Beyond Assiah (2023)

Featuring a pummeling intensity, today we have International outfit Outlaw and their third full-length release “Reaching Beyond Assiah”. With a huge Dissection/Thulcandra vibe, this band delivers seven memorable anthems that clock in at around 45 minutes. Filled with melody and explosiveness, this release is certainly for Black Metal fans that want to be headbanging for almost an hour straight.

Opening with the blistering intensity of “Bliss of Soul”, we get a nice balanced onslaught of melodic riffs and a hectic tempo. The Dissection worship starts with the epic “To Burn This World And Dissolve The Flesh”, a track filled with very familiar sounding riffs, but nicely arranged to fit the band’s relentless style. We particularly enjoyed the lead guitars in the aforementioned track and other melodic standouts like “Beyond The Realms of God” and “The Unending Night”.

After a few spins we found ourselves actually hearing some Uada-esque elements in the band’s intense music, particularly as engaging tracks like “The Unending Night” and “Everything That Becomes Nothing” come around. It is quite refreshing to hear this as many bands just rip-off Dissection, but these guys actually incorporate additional elements and create their own unique style.

Closing in with the crushing album title track, things turn darker and more melancholic to perfectly cap off a killer release. As a whole, “Reaching Beyond Assiah” is one hell of a highly polished and engaging familiar-but-yet-original sounding Black Metal release. Being a band of members from multiple countries allows them to seamlessly blend tons of ideas alongside solid execution to create an excellent release.

Label: AOP Records

Release: March 31st, 2023

Genre: Black Metal

Country: International