In today's tech death metal world, it seems like more and more bands are made up of great players who feel the point of their music is to show you how well they can play their instruments. The music is filled with overindulgent guitar solos and blast beats that never seem to stop. They basically dig the listener a grave, throw them in it and bury them with their music. It's incredibly suffocating and quite hard to get through.
The good news is that Montreal's Beyond Creation is the exact opposite of that. All four members of this band are incredible virtuosos but they also know how to craft a song. The music is fast at times, slows down at others, and has many twists and turns. Where those other bands were trying to bury you alive, Beyond Creation is inviting you to climb a mountain with them. They are more like tour guides who show you all the thrills along the way, and you never want the adventure to end.
Each musician in the band is amazing in their own right. Dominic "Forest" Lapointe might be the best bassist in the metal world. He does things on a fretless bass that make you take notice of what he is playing. Listen to his work on the title track of "Earthborn Evolution," especially at the beginning. He makes you think of Obscura since he plays a fretless, but honestly he is a better and more melodic player. Drummer Philippe Boucher knows when to blast beat and when NOT to blast beat. His playing is equal parts technical and feel.
Of course, the guitar work of Kevin Chartré and Simon Girard does shred, but not more than is needed and quite often the solos are jazzy or even bluesy, like on "The Axiom." The music on "Earthborn Evolution" is so good this could be an instrumental record. It could even have all clean vocals and work just fine, but the harsh vocals of Simon Girard become another instrument that acts like a razor cutting through the notes.
There is not a wasted note, not a bum track to be found on this entire record. The instrumental "Abstrait Dialog" shows the depth of this band. Songs like "Theatrical Delirium" are not only titled appropriately but show this band can play on an epic scale. Also worth noting is the artwork, which is equally incredible. In a word, this album is phenomenal.
