Beyond Extinction – Three Swords (EP Review)

Release date: 23 October 2026

Record label: Self-Released

The Riff Doctor's Score: (8/10)

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Diagnosis

Beyond Extinction unearth the darkest chapters of Essex’s history, transforming centuries of witch hunts, plague and violence into four suffocating tracks of crushing deathcore. Guttural vocals, dissonant guitars and an overwhelming sense of dread turn the past into something that feels disturbingly alive.

Best Tracks: Witchfinder, The Estuary

The Full Review

There is something particularly unsettling about music that draws its inspiration from real history rather than fiction. On Three Swords, Essex four-piece Beyond Extinction dig into the darker corners of their home county's past, turning tales of witchfinders, disease and violence into a relentlessly oppressive soundtrack.

Following their debut album Where They Gather, the band return with four tracks that favour atmosphere just as much as sheer brutality. Downtuned guitars, dissonant riffs and pounding drums create a suffocating foundation, while Jasper Harmer's impossibly deep growls sound like something dragged straight from beneath the earth.

Opening track Witchfinder sets the mood with slow, reverberating rhythms and an almost ritualistic sense of dread. Skin of the Beast introduces subtle melodic contrasts against the crushing low end, while The Estuary brings a different kind of horror, drawing inspiration from the dangerous waterways of Essex. It is a particularly interesting concept, proving that sometimes reality provides more disturbing material than any horror film.

What makes Three Swords interesting is the attention paid to its atmosphere. Clever tempo changes, unsettling ambient passages and occasional flashes of melody prevent the relentless heaviness from becoming entirely one-dimensional. The tracks flow almost seamlessly into one another, giving the EP a sense of continuity rather than feeling like four unrelated songs.

Closing track A Dark Sickness (Three Swords) brings the journey to an appropriately grim conclusion, leaving the surrounding darkness to linger even after the music has faded.

At just four tracks, Three Swords is over almost as quickly as it begins. Yet there is a clear artistic vision behind the brutality, and Beyond Extinction demonstrates that extreme heaviness can still leave room for storytelling and atmosphere.

Essex has never sounded quite so unwelcoming.

Jose Crespo for The Riff Collective