Live performance:**** Times Seen:2
The Aura (2011): 9.7
Earthborn Evolution (2014):9.4
Genre 1: Technical Death Metal
Genre 2: Progressive Metal
Genre 3: Extreme Metal
For Fans Of: The Faceless, Cattle Decapitation, Necrophagist, Between the Buried & Me, Rings of Saturn, Nile, Archspire, Spawn of Possession, +Animals As Leaders , bass leads and fast drums, extreme instrumentation.
Formed In: 2005 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Status: Preparing a North American Tour
Label: Seasons of Mist
-Discography Overview-
The Aura is the breathtaking debut release from one of Canada's finest bands in the scene. Montreal based Beyond Creation is heavy, technical, slow, and fast. I discovered this band and album because of the Rings of Saturn Facebook page, and I'm not afraid to to admit it. There are several similar bands, but few can fuse the elements of technicality and brutality better than Beyond Creation. The most incredible aspect of the band is arguably the bass skills. The bass lines and guitar shredding in "Coexistence" are phenomenal. The song has everything you could hope for: a heavy breakdown, an insane guitar solo, and a gorgeous interlude with an additional bass solo. Few bands could have the bass follow the guitar so perfectly. Of course the band wouldn't be so impacting without the wonderful vocals that fit the style perfectly. And what would a death metal band be without a blast beating powerhouse behind the kit? The grooves and pounding riffs are as catchy as they are heavy. "Omnipresent" was the first song by Beyond Creation I ever heard, and the bleating riffs on guitar and bass were instantly enough to draw me in and acquire the rest of the album. "Omnipresent" is truly a masterpiece of a song. The pace and dynamic of this album is done really well, which you don't always see in Progressive Metal or Death Metal. The second to last track serves as a beautiful interlude slash intro for the finale. It's a peaceful intermission before the blast beating powerhouse known as "The Deported" closes things off. Overall, this album has some tracks good enough to bring it to the list of the greats like Planetary Duality. Go listen if you haven't yet!
Earthborn Evolution is Beyond Creation's sophomore release, and boy is it hard to stand up to their powerful debut release, but Earthborn Evolution puts up a damned good fight. Many similar sounding elements from the first album are still there, but Beyond Creation does a pretty good job at giving a fresh perspective. That's the mostl clear when you reach the second track "Sous La Lueur De L'empereur" which does all of the things you love about this band, but in a different way. The title track begins like a really cool melodic interlude, then quickly turns into consonant and slow approach to a song. This song feels almost like a tech death ballad, and I mean that in a good way. "Theatrical Delirium" is another cool one that I like a lot. I don't know how to properly describe it without sounding repetitive, but...holy fuck that bass! There are still a ton of cool parts in this album, but in the end, it still didn't leave me as WOWed as I was after The Aura. It's a great release, but it leaves me to wonder if Beyond Creation can manage to top their first record. Unfortunately it's very hard to stay original and fresh in death metal genre. Still, I'm quite curious to hear what these guys do next.
-Live Review-
Beyond Creation is a must-see Death Metal act. They're brutal and beautiful. The instrumentation is on point, and the sound quality has always been great. The vocalist also has a fan (or something?) built into his guitar, so that it blows on him while he plays making his hair fly back behind him in a corny but hilarious display of metal power. \m/.
Beyond Creation's energy is powerful, so the crowd will usually circle pit or indulge in a push pit of sorts. Unfortunately, the first time I saw Beyond Creation in the city my fellow New Yorkers embarrassed me by yelling out "Canada sucks" and stuff like that, but the band took it in good humor and played out their heart's content. My friends in Animist opened up for that show, and it was absolutely sick. The second time I saw Beyond Creation was at Summer Slaughter at Webster Hall. They had an even bigger crowd this time around, and played just as well. I'm really happy these talented dudes have been able to break out into the big leagues, they definitely deserve it.
The first song I ever heard, and the same video too! Check it out. (Bass players be warned, it's intense.)
