Beyond Shadows
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Beyond Shadows is an American blackened death metal/melodic death metal band, with strong NWOBHM influences. Originally formed in 2000, the band combined the harsh sounds of death and black metal with the melody and technical ability of classic bands such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, thus creating a unique sound. They recently released a full length album titled Descent to Damnation. They are a part of the NYC Underground, which includes bands such as Mortician and Demized among others.
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[edit] Biography
The lineup is Khalid Ilahi (vocals and guitars), Elysa Fein (bass), Frank Vaturina (drums) and Paul Rod (guitars). All members past and present are from New York.
The band released multiple demos through out the years, their first in 2000. After the release of this first demo the band essentially locked themselves into the studio and began working on their musicianship. At first, before the steady lineup, there was a period of time where musicians would enter and leave the band at a hysterically idiotic pace. One drummer wanted to play for the band, but he soon decided to pursue guitar. Another guitarist had quite exceptional skills, chose to follow his religion, which apparently "told him" not to play in the band anymore.
A demo was released in 2002, and the first - "classic" - lineup would soon fall apart. Paul succumbed to his illness of leukemia, and died in December that year. The rest of the band was quite distraught and upset, and the thought of stopping the band altogether was prevalent in the air.
Larry, being the oldest member of the band at the time decided to take charge. The search for a new drummer began, but things would not ever be the same again. Larry also decided that he would do lead vocals from then on, however this did not sit well with the rest of the band, as he was quite unskilled and untalented, and when he tried to sing, it made the other two members want to put their instruments down. Eventually inner turmoil bubbled up and Larry had to be removed from the band, the main reason being that his guitar skills have not progressed with the rest of the band.
Alberto was still very interested in playing bass, but college was coming up soon, and his time was basically up. He and Khalid split on amicable terms, and they are friends to this day.
In 2003, the band was officially on hiatus, and it was up to Khalid to decide when to pick up the torch to carry on. It took him over a year to recover from the wounds of losing a loved one, and the quick collapse of what was left of the band. In this time period he played in side projects, most noticeably playing drums in Vintersorg (not to be confused with the European band of same name), bass and vocals in Children of Kaine, and lead guitar in Exalted.
In April 2004, all parties involved decided it was time for Khalid to move on. He began looking for new band members all over again, this time without the aid of his trusty and loyal band member Alberto. He met with the duo of Leroy and Albert, who did vocals and drums respectively. Deciding that it was time to move up on his guitar skills, Khalid doubted himself at this point, believing that he would not be able to deal with doing vocals at the same time, and being quite impressed with Leroy's singing skills, decided to have him join the band along with Albert. Ex-Earlier band member Will filled in on rhythm guitar. After about 3 months, Albert had not improved his drumming skills whatsoever, and Leroy was losing his voice, so they decided to switch roles. This did not sit well with Khalid, who had never even heard Albert sing. Although Leroy was a better drummer, it was still not the material Beyond Shadows needed to live on once again. Thus Leroy and Albert were outcaste from the band, and Khalid once again took up vocals, with exuberant guitar skill in hand.
Soon after, Will decided that since he would not devote any time to the band (besides practice once a week), and that he should quit. Although this saddened Khalid, he accepted the facts and moved on.
Khalid continued to look for band members, once again by himself. He somehow managed to recruit another Ex-Earlier band member, David. Like Will, David also learned of guitar and metal due to Khalid. Although David did not believe in himself or his abilities, Khalid helped raise his self esteem and they began working together on new material. The time came to look for a bassist and drummer now.
Through an ad online Khalid met Joel, a drummer. Along with David, the three jammed in a studio, and Joel wanted the gig. He was accepted into the band right after.
Looking for a bassist was another story. Meeting up with characters throughout the city was quite the adventure. The two guitarists met up with Tommy, who had a political mindset, and wanted to change the band name and lyrical content. His idea of an audition was to meet up at a musical equipment store and play through the amps set up there. Another would-be bassist was transsexual Frank. What happened with Frank was that all his testosterone went to his deep voice, leaving everything else about him quite girl-like. He decided to take advantage of this, and shopped for girl's clothing and got his hair done regularly. He arrived at the studio with bass in tow, and proceeded to play guitar riffs on it. Khalid attempted to explain that the band needed a bassist, not a lead guitarist stuck in a bassist's body. At this point it set in that Frank was a very feminine Kirk Hammett. Frank, being himself, could not handle the criticism and decided to sit down the whole rest of practice, pouting. When asked to play even one note, he could not accomplish any small task. He is also the first person on record to say that Beyond Shadows sounds emo.
After practice, all members split. David went home with Khalid, and Joel and Frank took the train together. That train ride would cause a multitude of problems for the band. Frank talked Joel into not caring about the project anymore, and that he and Joel should start a thrash metal band. Joel agreed, since he wasn't really into the whole melodic black metal scene anyway. However, this information would not be disclosed to either Khalid or David for another couple of months.
During Christmas and New Year week in December '04, the band decided to take a break. Joel's idea of a break was to go to Mexico and do a lot of drugs. At the next practice, the effects were still hitting him, as he could not learn anymore material. Out of the 3-4 months he was in the band, he only learned 2 and a half songs.
Finally in February '05, Khalid and Elysa met up through the world wide web. She played bass, and went to school not far from Khalid's house. He drove the 5 minutes, picked her up, and gave her an audition in his bedroom. She passed with flying colors. The next band practice went well, even though Joel still only knew about 2 songs. Offers were coming in for the band to play shows. After making sure it was okay with everyone, Khalid booked March 27th at Don Hill's club. During all of this, Khalid had been working with a drum machine, and would be recording what would later be defined as "Descent to Damnation".
Before the next practice Khalid called up Joel to celebrate the band's progress, only to find out that Joel didn't have time for it, if you "catch" his "drift". He was moving on to doing other projects, including a punk outfit at the time. This left David, Elysa, and Khalid without a drummer and a show a month away. Once David heard of Joel leaving, he stopped caring as well. Weeks went by and David was nowhere to be found. He would not return calls or show up to practices anymore. Finally, due to his girlfriend Alejandra, Khalid found out David was in the hospital for a collapsed lung. Once he felt better he decided that a band playing a show without a drummer was no fun and that he had too much stage fright, so he had to quit.
What a predicament. The show was only a couple of weeks away. Khalid quickly started working with the drum machine again, producing tracks for the show. Since it was a Slayer tribute show, he also programmed the drums for War Ensemble. At this point a miracle had taken place, as Khalid's friend and former band mate Johnny from Exalted was going to step in and play guitar for the show. This also led him to join the band as a permanent member, though that was unfortunately short lived.
The show went well, the 3 of them pulling it off with the drum machine. Khalid also handed out free copies of the new album, Descent to Damnation. After the show, Khalid again resumed search for a replacement drummer.
Wolf, drummer of Demized, was present at the Don Hill's show, and was quite impressed with the "broken-up" band. He gave Khalid the phone number of his friend Chelo, a multitalented instrumentalist. Chelo was skilled at not only the drums, but guitar and keyboards as well. However, it was his skill behind the kit that paved his way into the hearts of the band.
Unfortunately, this was also to be short lived. Although Chelo joined up in April, he only played one show with the band before problems with his personal life started. The band was on hold until finally in August, Khalid confronted him. Chelo agreed to leave on good terms and the search for a new drummer was again underway.
Enter Sam Roldan. Even though he definitely wasn't the best drummer, he managed to work out, thanks no doubt to the extensive patience of Khalid and Elysa. After playing many successful shows with the band, however, Sam decided that metal wasn't quite his calling anymore. This led to him having a falling out with the band, and in December Sam departed.
Since then Khalid and Elysa have been searching to fill the band's lineup. Khalid has been working on his solo project, as well as new material for Beyond Shadows and plans on releasing another EP this year, albeit with a shorter tracklist (compared to Descent To Damnation's 17).
In 2004, Khalid and Frank had crossed paths several times. Frank played drums in several bands while Khalid was still playing for Exalted. At one of Frank's shows, Khalid took him aside and said, "I hate hardcore music, but you made it for me." At another show, Frank was impressed with Khalid's solo. Flash-forward to March 2006, Frank parted ways from a previous band and decided to audition for Beyond Shadows. Khalid was shocked by his amazing skill and welcomed him into the band. Since then, he has continued to surprise the band at practice by his quick learning ability, fierce talent, and great personality.
In 2006 Paul Rod joined the band for the guitarist role. He will also be contributing to the band's songs.
All info taken from the band's homepage, www.beyondshadows.com
[edit] Line-up
- Khalid Ilahi - Vocals/Guitars (2000-) (Founding Member)
- Elysa Fein - Bass (2005-)
- Frank Vaturina - Drums (2006-)
- Paul Rodriguez - Guitar (2006-)
[edit] Former members
- Larry Negron - Guitar (2000-2003)
- Alberto Luna - Bass (2000-2003) (Founding Member)
- Paul Shervier - Drums (2000-2002) (Founding Member)
[edit] Discography
- Blackout (2003)
- Descent To Damnation (2005)
- Escape From Reality (2006)
