Beyond Creation - Earthborn Evolution

Earthborn Evolution is the second album by Quebecois progressive death metal band Beyond Creation. I picked it up at The Exchange in Akron with my buddy Ted on our way back from seeing the final So Many Dynamos show in St. Louis. I think it cost $8, and that my whole haul of CDs and shirts from that and other stops on that road trip cost maybe $75. Aside from Greendale by Neil Young and all the So Many Dynamos CDs, this is probably the CD that I associate most with that trip.

It’s in pretty good condition for a used heavy metal digipak. There’s some noticeable white scars on the edges of the spine and the bottom of the lids, but the interior is very clean and the disc itself is spotless. If the logo is too legible for you, there’s a rad alternate design beneath the yellow and grey disc (listed as Drawing (under CD) in the liner notes). The art looks like the top level of Coruscant, as designed by H. R. Giger, which is to say, it looks like a progressive death metal album cover. Sickly grey-green buildings are connected by an utterly lifeless promenade that winds its way to the overcast horizon. At the vanishing point, a blinding white light shines from between the hulks. A nuclear explosion? The rising sun? Nothing seems to live in this city, and yet the city itself is alive with malice.

The inner booklet flap has a little rounded notch to grant easy access to the liner notes, which is a neat little touch. Is that standard for albums printed in Canada? I don’t think I’ve noticed that on any other discs in my collection. The liner notes come with a one-page Season Of Mist catalog ad (with the old social media logos!). The booklet itself is well put-together and simply designed, but two things stand out. First: they put in who is playing the guitar solo in the lyrics section, which is exactly the kind of arrogant, self-assured move that a progressive death metal band should be making. Second: the glamour shots. These dudes are standing in dappled light in the September woods on the edges of the lyrics pages, their long hair meticulously brushed and their goatees very much not. The centerfold has them standing side by side, backlit in a public park with brown leaves underfoot and a blue sky above like a D&D themed boy band. The autumnal vibe clashes with the inhuman architecture everywhere else on the packaging, establishing that this is a real band that lives in the real world.

I had actually seen Beyond Creation live before on a bizarrely stacked lineup in Melbourne in 2019. Rivers of Nihil played first, then Allegaeon, then Beyond Creation, then Caligula’s Horse, and Ne Obliviscaris were the hometown headliners. The only place I’ve ever heard Tigran Hamasyan played other than on WKCR was between sets at that show. I still wear the Allegaeon shirt I bought there to the gym (though that’s probably the band I’m least interested in of the five, nowadays).

The first thing that hit me at that concert in Australia was the first thing that stood out to me about this record: the bass. At that 2019 show, Beyond Creation were touring on Algorythm with bassist Hugo Doyon-Karout; Earthborn Evolution was recorded in 2014, and features Forest Lapointe on 6-string fretless bass. Beyond Creation have two guitarists, both of whom play 8-strings and play riffs down in the bass’s territory at times. The bass responds by rising. The guitars in the band play the bass parts: the bassist plays counterpoint.

If you like two-handed tapping riffs in your progressive metal, this is the album for you. The bass does it, the guitars do it, everyone’s going hard. This album never sits still and grooves on a single riff for long. Development is the name of the game here, as riffs mutate, switch instrumentation, switch register, but never lose you. Remember when I pointed out the contrast between the autumnal inside booklet and the sinister outside? That’s how the riffs feel, too. There’s a lot of energy spent appearing threatening and impenetrable, but the songs themselves are remarkably grounded and easy to follow. Even when they’re dipping into proper jazz fusion and back out, this (more than pop-metal acts like Sleep Token or Rivals or whoever) is what I’m looking for when I ask for more melody in my metal.

This album is a nose-crinkler on headphones, in the car, and even on my shitty Victrola 8-in-1. They get a lot of mileage out of the stereo field. I know that modern metal mixing techniques get a bad rap, often for good reason, but everything is in its’ right place on Earthborn Evolution. The growls are present but never too forward. The guitars and the bass have space carved out from them even when they swap into the others’ register. The drums punch hard on my car stereo, but the kick isn’t too clicky. Balance and tastefulness are not words one normally associates with progressive metal, but Beyond Creation have really set forward a balanced, tasteful prog metal album that still has a distinctive flavor.

Earthborn Evolution by Beyond Creation is a good album, and I like it.