The sheer vastness of psychedelia is something that can never be truly overstated. Given the massive breadth of scope that the concept has to offer, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody that psychedelia is still continuing to dish out one spectacle after another with bands long having been entrenched in its depths more than capable of summoning more efforts. As one, it’s with their tenth album that The Cosmic Dead continues to show us what both they and their sound can deliver when moving in tandem.
The Cosmic Dead may not be one of the longest running bands that are to be found in the realms of psychedelic rock, but their catalog of impressive exploration more than speaks for itself. Time after time, the Glasgow act has consistently shown us that they are a true embodiment of what psychedelic rock still has to offer with each subsequent record showing another layer of the band’s deep understanding of the craft. “Beyond the Beyond” is all the proof one should need that The Cosmic Dead continues to operate on a level that fires on virtually all cylinders. An experience that is hand-crafted to be kaleidoscopic in its entirety, there isn’t so much as a minute of this record that doesn’t transport the listener into a realm where the rules of our reality are dismissed by the wave of a hand and our bodies and souls are granted experiences this plane of existence can never hope to fully achieve. While admittedly a little repetitive at times, it’s in this greatly hypnotic nature that “Beyond the Beyond” constantly beckons you further into the realm where anything feels possible. All throughout, The Cosmic Dead offer us a listen that’s as smooth in its delivery as it is undulating in its approaches to ensure that the listener held adrift through a reality painted exclusively by The Cosmic Dead. It’s where euphoria meets freedom and where the soul feels truly free. This is psychedelic rock at its most unshackled; a voyage beyond the confines of our world as we know it.
I feel it would be a stretch to make the claim that this is a peak of the genre as 2026 has come to know it as well as something that’s to redefine The Cosmic Dead’s discography, but I would be remiss to not mention how satisfying this record is. The finest pieces of psychedelic rock are, like the vast majority of all music, escapism of the highest order. From the beginning, “Beyond the Beyond” achieves that to magnificent effect with the path before The Cosmic Dead still wide open before them with many paths to take. Whatever is to come next is anybody’s guess with “Beyond the Beyond” a tremendous step forward towards the eventual destiny of The Cosmic Dead.
LISTEN to “Beyond the Beyond” on Bandcamp here.
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