Today I have the great pleasure and honor of speaking with Beyond The Veil, and more specifically with Yoshihiro (who will be referred to as Yoshi ) and DB Karma. We talked about the band,their upcoming release ( read about Oblivion here ) , their musical vision, the message they want to express through their music, and the overall purpose behind their creative journey. It was a truly wonderful interview, and one I genuinely enjoyed.
Hello Beyond the Veil, and welcome to Metal Revolt! It’s great to have you with us. How are things going for the band right now?
(Yoshi)
Right now we’re just getting everything lined up for the new album release, and honestly, it’s been a really good time for the band.
We’re just excited to finally get this thing out into the world.
(DB Karma (DBK))
Yeah, I’m in the middle of writing stuff for the second album right now. Didn’t really see it coming ourselves, but it’s shaping up to be a lot more on the extreme metal side this time.
For readers who are just discovering your music, can you introduce Beyond the Veil and tell us how it all began?
(Yoshi)
Beyond the Veil is really about bringing contrasts into one piece of music—things like intensity and calm, chaos and beauty, all living side by side.
I’ve always been heavily influenced by progressive music, especially stuff where different emotions just naturally coexist. That’s the kind of sound I’ve always been drawn to.
(DBK)
Yoshi has always been into ’70s–’80s prog rock and ’90s modern prog metal sound. Me, I’m into prog as well, but also loads of ’80s thrash and ’90s death and black metal. We actually go way back—first played together in a local black metal band called Tyrant in the late ’90s through early 2000s. We put out three albums back then, all written mainly by me, more on the symphonic black metal side.
Yoshi’s not just a great guitarist, he’s a seriously good writer too. Even back then I kept thinking I wanted to do something with his material someday.
After the last Tyrant record, I basically drifted away from music for about 15–16 years. Didn’t keep up with new bands or anything, so honestly I’m pretty out of touch with what’s going on these days.
Beyond the Veil started around the COVID period. I was stuck working from home, bored out of my head, so I thought I’d try writing again for the first time in years. At first I was doing most of it, but gradually I got Yoshi to take over more. He’s just too good, honestly. And on top of that, he’s a brilliant recording engineer.
If you’re in a metal band and you actually care about your sound, you should get him to handle your mixing or mastering. He’ll sort you out properly, and he doesn’t charge a fortune either. If you’re interested in working with him, just hit him up at this email: beyondtheveiljapan@gmail.com. He’ll probably sort you out with mixing and mastering for a pretty damned decent price, I promise. Yeah, for now, cost of living’s pretty low in Japan, so that helps too.
You’re getting ready to release your upcoming album “Oblivion” through Wormholedeath Records. That must be an exciting moment for you. How are you feeling about this release?
(Yoshi)
I’m really looking forward to it.
I feel like this record helped us lock in a certain direction, but at the same time, we’re still figuring out what we really are as a band. This album is just one step in that process.
Can’t wait for people to hear it.
(DBK)
To be honest, my head is already on the next album. We recorded Oblivion back in 2024, so that’s about a year and a half ago now. It’s more like “finally it’s coming out, then.” I just hope people enjoy it, really.
From the preview we heard, “Oblivion” shows a lot of musical variety and depth. Can you tell us more about your sound and your overall musical approach on this album?
(Yoshi)
Our music really revolves around contrast.
A lot of our songs move between heavy and quieter sections, but the key for us is making sure they don’t feel disconnected—it all has to flow naturally.
We’re always thinking about keeping that sense of cohesion as a single piece.
(DBK)
We’ve got such a wide range of influences, the music probably feels like opening some kind of weird toy box, right? That’s just what happens when you pull from so many different places.
“Depth” is a compliment, sure—but these days, it’s kinda a tough sell too. With Spotify and Amazon Music, people just jump from track to track. If it doesn’t click instantly, they skip it.
Back when I was a kid, I’d save up what little money I had just to buy one or two LPs or CDs. Even if I didn’t like it at first, I’d keep listening ‘cause I paid for it, you know? And then sometimes you’d realize that album you didn’t like at first was actually insanely deep. I feel like fewer people listen like that now, so yeah… I don’t know how our album’s gonna land.
What inspired the concept and sound of “Oblivion”?
(Yoshi)
We’re heavily influenced by that kind of expression you hear in progressive music—where intensity and beauty exist side by side.
Taking those elements and shaping them into something that feels like our own… that’s really at the core of this record.
(DBK)
We’re not geniuses or revolutionaries or anything. We’re always gonna be shaped by the bands we love. At this point, there’s basically no such thing as completely unheard-of music anyway. What we did on this album is take all those influences and express them in our own way. So yeah, you’ll hear classical, prog rock, extreme metal—sometimes even bits of jazz or pop creeping in.
Me personally, over the last 15 years I’ve mostly been listening to classical and more modern prog—stuff like Steven Wilson, I was really into that. Before that, I was all about thrash, death, black metal… and even earlier, prog rock. It’s like I just threw all that into one box and built this album out of it.
Can you tell us about the lyrical themes behind the album?
(Eric—guitarist, vocalist )
Built on Sand:
At its essence, this is basically a song about choices. Throughout our lives, there are an infinite number of choices that can be made, and often inaction itself is one of those choices. But it can be difficult to know which choice is the right one, especially when there doesn’t seem to be a clear solution.
A Glimpse into Eternity:
This song is about the seemingly endless cruelty of humanity. It was in part inspired by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but even in times of peace, humanity shows extreme savagery in so many different ways in every corner of the world.
Reflection:
This is actually a different take on lyrics for a song of the same name that I wrote for a previous band around 2008 or 2009. This version jumbles up the order of the lyrics from the older version to intentionally make the narrative aspect less clear but the overall theme a bit more clear. In essence, it deals with two themes: impermanence and personification, a reflection of human qualities and emotions in places where they do not exist.
Enigma:
Although impermanence is a theme throughout many of my lyrics, this song takes the opposite approach and deals with just how monotonous eternity would be.
Collapse:
This song has several different themes that are all connected, but if I had to sum it up, I’d say that it deals with the intersection of mental health and physical health.
Terminus:
Lyrically, this song tackles the Myth of Sisyphus, the desire of humans to seek out meaning, the futility of our actions, and the inevitability of death. Suicide is often said to be a “permanent solution to a temporary problem,” but that statement is dismissive and shows a lack of understanding of those who have considered suicide as the problem is very rarely “temporary.” Ironically, the original lyrics went to the very end of the song and came to the same conclusion as Camus, but we all agreed that the second half of the song was better as an instrumental, so roughly half of the song’s lyrics were cut, resulting in a slightly less optimistic ending than the original version.
How does the songwriting process work inside the band?
(Yoshi)
Most of the songwriting is handled by me.
DB Karma comes in with things like the piano parts, bits and pieces of ideas, and also gives feedback while the songs are still coming together.
Since he’s not buried too deep in the process, he can look at everything more objectively—and that perspective ends up playing a really important role in shaping the overall direction and tightening up the final result.
(DBK)
This album was mostly written by Yoshi. I’d give him a rough idea—like what kind of track I wanted—and he’d come back with something solid. Then I’d go in and ask him to tweak bits here and there.
The next one’s a bit different though. I’m putting together the skeletons this time, and Yoshi’s arranging them. So yeah, it’s probably gonna feel quite different from this album.
We’ve actually already got enough material for another album as well, and that one’s mostly written by Yoshi. That might end up being the third record.
What is next for Beyond the Veil after “Oblivion”?
(Yoshi)
This is our first release as Beyond the Veil, but on the next one we’re looking to push things further—maybe bring in more orchestral elements and see where that takes us.
(DBK)
Like I said earlier, I’m focused on writing the second album right now. The next album will be really intense, brutal, and progressive. Yeah, as Yoshi said, we’ll put a bit more orchestral elements on the next one.
Are there any live shows or tour plans coming up?
(DBK)
We’d love to play live, but we’re all over the place. Eric—guitar and vocals, he’s American—and me, we’re in Tokyo. Yoshi’s in Kobe, Dave’s in London, and Keisuke’s down in Okayama. So yeah… not exactly easy to pull that together. We’re international, and even within Japan we’re miles apart.
So at the moment, no concrete plans. But if we keep putting out solid records and people actually want to see us live, we’ll make it happen. We’re up for it.
Thank you for your time. Please leave a message for our readers.
(Yoshi)
I’d rather people feel this album than try to “understand” it.
Everyone’s got their own emotions, their own memories—so I hope they can bring that into it and just step into the music in their own way.
If it leaves something behind in someone, even just a small thing, that’s what really matters to us.
(DBK)
I mean, who’s actually gonna sit through songs where even the shortest one’s over seven minutes these days? It’s a bit mental, innit.
But if you’re into prog or extreme metal, there’s loads in there for you. Give it a listen. Cheers for the support.
