The Belgian Symphonic Metal band Worlds Beyond was founded in 2017. At least that’s what the press release says. However, I found the year 2018 as the founding year on the Encyclopaedia Metallum. The musicians come from Ghent (East Flanders, Belgium). However, founder and guitarist Tijmen Matthys started writing songs back in 2016. He therefore had very clear ideas about what kind of musicians he wanted to work with. He found them quite quickly. This meant that the first live performances could also take place. The debut album ‘Symphony Of Dawn’ was released in 2020, followed a little over four years later, in January 2025, by ‘Rhapsody Of Life’. I liked the album a lot. What impressed me the most, however, was the continuity of the line-up. Obviously, Worlds Beyond are still playing with the founding line-up.
MHF: Hi, I’m Rainer and I write for Metalheads Forever Magazine. I’m pleased to be doing this interview with you. How are you doing?
Tijmen: Hi, thanks for having us! We’re doing great, still floating on the cloud of the amazing release shows we recently did with a live symphonic orchestra. Our album ‘Rhapsody of Life’ is finally out, and we’re cooking various plans about the future!
MHF: Outside your home country, you are less well known. Please introduce yourself briefly. I’m particularly interested in the official year you were founded.
WB: Hi new people! We’re Worlds Beyond, a symphonic rock/metal band from Belgium. We’re six people with a variety in music tastes that combine into an eclectic mix of opera, punk rock, folk, metal, pop, and even Disney/musical vibes.
Our band was founded in February 2017. Yes, Encyclopaedia Metallum was wrong, they probably looked at one of our social media accounts which was created later.
MHF: Your guitarist Tijmen Matthys started writing songs when the band didn’t even exist yet. What inspired him to start writing songs?
Tijmen: I’ve been into music since I was young. The first spark of songwriting came when I heard John Powell’s “Forbidden Friendship” as a child and managed to play the melody on guitar by ear. I was so proud haha. But that same skill is the fundament of songwriting: grabbing the melodies that exist only in your head, refining them, and bringing them into the real world. The catalyst was when I discovered the genre of symphonic metal in my late teens. It combined the genres of film music and rock in a way that felt very natural to me and prompted me to actually write full songs. Creating the band was just a logical next step
MHF: How did Tijmen later find his fellow musicians?
Tijmen: Robbe, Ewoud, & Jakob are university friends, whereas Valerie & Wout were complete strangers brought to us through the shared love for music (and a few little ads, thanks Humo for the platform!).
We fuse symphonic beauty with the power of a rock band. Though some call us “symphonic metal”, that hardly catches it. We take elements from lots of genres (see above), so you should really listen and decide for yourself.
MHF: Valerie De Kempe has a beautiful and crystal-clear soprano voice. Did she have classical vocal training?
Valerie: Yes, I did! I started the 9-years program in our local music academy when I was 16. Afterwards I took private lessons for a few years in classical and contemporary singing. However, I don’t have any official degree in music, just a certificate.
MHF: Do you have any musical idols?
Valerie: I started my singing journey after hearing Tarja Turunen and Floor Jansen sing when I was a young girl. Now I’m 36 and I can’t say I have real ‘idols’ anymore. Every musician or creative soul brings something to the world we can all learn from.
MHF: Your second album ‘Rhapsody Of Life’ was released in January. How did the songwriting process go? Is Tijmen Matthys the main songwriter? And how do the other band members contribute?
Tijmen: I write the songs at home (or anywhere really) and develop them as best as I can into full scores. We then take these to the band rehearsals and iterate on them. Everyone brings in little (or big) changes until we end up with the final version of the song. This approach works great for us as it combines the coherent vision of a single songwriter with the critical feedback of five musically gifted people.
MHF: What themes do you use in the lyrics?
WB: Our new album ‘Rhapsody of Life’ is a concept album about the human condition. Every song narrates a specific important emotion or experience we collectively have as people. Though the lyrics are inspired by our own lives & that of the people we love, they’re ultimately about the listener’s experiences. The title track combines all these themes in an extensive summary song describing the meaning of life. Not by answering it directly (that’s impossible), but by providing food for your thoughts, inviting you to appreciate your existence even more.
MHF: How happy are you with the current album?
WB: Very happy! We worked a lot on it and were able to do everything we wanted to regarding the end result. It’s a considerable upgrade to our first album, in terms of musical maturity, production quality, and lyrical depth.
MHF: How were the reactions of the fans and the press?
WB: In general, they were quite good, it’s especially heartwarming to receive direct messages from people with their stories about how they listened to our music and what it meant to them specifically. That human connection with otherwise complete strangers is a welcome surprise we didn’t expect when starting a band.
MHF: Will you be presenting the album live? Also outside your home country?
WB: A short while ago, we had our release weekend consisting of three shows with a full symphonic orchestra. It was an amazing experience to play with so many musicians on stage, and the audience was very enthusiastic.
Of course, we also have normal band gigs in Belgium, albeit not that much due to the limited options here (artists vastly outnumber performance chances). So with that in mind we are indeed looking at the neighbouring countries, as well as other settings (that orchestra show really was amazing, we’d love to give more people the chance to see it one day!)
MHF: What are the differences between ‘Symphony Of Dawn’ and ‘Rhapsody Of Life’?
WB: ‘Symphony of Dawn’ is about wonder & exploration, there is no connection between the songs, and we are expressing what the music gives us.
‘Rhapsody of Life’ is deliberate: a coherent celebration of life & invitation to the listener to finetune their own eclectic meaning. We also leveled up as musicians, so it should hopefully sound better on most aspects.
MHF: Are you mainly promoting your current album? Or are you already starting the songwriting for a follow-up?
WB: The current focus is on promoting ‘Rhapsody of Life’! We’re planning a variety of things, so follow us on your favourite platform to stay in touch (we’re most active on Instagram).
Songwriting is a process that starts way before the physical act of writing a melody down. Neil Gaiman said something along the lines of “everything you experience ends up on your compost heap, which is what fuels writing”. Tijmen is currently building his compost heap!
MHF: Thank you once again for this interview. Is there anything else you would like to say to the fans at the end?
WB: Thank you for existing, you wonderful human being <3
May you have a great life.
Photo credits: Dries Kerkhove, Seppe Lauwereyns
Worlds Beyond are:
Valerie De Kempe – Vocals
Tijmen Matthys – Guitars
Jakob Declercq – Violin
Robbe Adriaens – Keyboards
Ewoud Dekoninck – Bass
Wout Debacker – Drums
Discography:
Winterstorm – Single 2020
Moonlight – Single 2020
Edge of Faith – Single 2020
Symphony of Dawn – Album 2020
Rhapsody of Life – Album 2025
Social Media:
Bandcamp – https://worldsbeyondofficial.bandcamp.com/album/rhapsody-of-life
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/worldsbeyondofficial
Homepage – https://www.worldsbeyond.be/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/worldsbeyond.official/
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/worldsbeyond
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/5Gjhr3kpK4L3NeqVf6GQrw
Apple Music – https://music.apple.com/us/artist/worlds-beyond/1530888546
Deezer – https://www.deezer.com/us/artist/1013201
