Beyond Creation – The Aura (Season of Mist)
Thursday, 20th June 2013
An album that is two years already, meaning it’s getting the ‘ole “reboot,” The Aura is the debut effort from French Canadian technical death metal mongloids Beyond Creation. Anyone with even an iota of familiarity with Canadian technical death metal knows what lies ahead: notes, more notes, funky bass lines, and notes. Did we say notes? And funky bass lines?
Like a bastardized version of Martyr, the sorely-missed Quo Vadis, and the on-the-rebound Cryptopsy, Beyond Creation’s death metal mannerisms will no doubt strike fear in the hearts of the less fleet-of-finger. The degree of technicality in which these lads operate is quite obvious, and they seem more than willing to let it be shoved in our respective craws. But per the usual, that always doesn’t amount to good songs. In fact, it leads to sensory overload – The Aura has 11 songs, so once you’ve traversed at least a good half-dozen, you’re literally pining for a good ‘ole bonehead riff. Nay, it’s not happening – the attack is simply heightened via “Social Disability,” and “Injustice Revealed,” which appears twice on the album, the second time as a bonus track.
High-fives and bass (not butt) slaps to bassist Dominic “Forest” Lapointe, who appears more than capable of carrying on the technical death metal tradition of outstanding bass players. Lapointe sticks out rather easily on The Aura, probably because scratching and clawing for something more controlled is the only thing to do after a while…
