Beyond Creation Run Their Algorithms at Orto bar (2018)

date: 08.11.2018
location: Ljubljana, Orto bar

The popularity of musical genres has always been cyclical. Every genre has its ups and downs. If thrash had its big comeback years ago, with retro flavors (stoner, doom, etc.) not far behind, 2018 looks like the year reserved for the rise of technical death metal. This year alone, outstanding and well-received albums (by fans and critics alike) came from Inferi, Alkaloid, Obscura, Revocation, Soreption, Rivers of Nihil, Gorod, Beyond Creation, Cryptopsy, Archspire, Augury and plenty of others, and the shows by these bands are, at least here, drawing really good crowds, which is pretty surprising for a genre supposedly reserved for “connoisseurs.” Anyway, we got to lick our chops again two weeks ago, when Gorod and Beyond Creation came back to Orto bar, bringing along two openers well worth catching.

First on stage were the tour headliners’ fellow countrymen, Brought By Pain, who also happen to be the band of Beyond Creation’s guitarist and bassist. Stylistically, you can find plenty of parallels between the two bands, but Brought By Pain differ from their much better-known colleagues in a lot of ways, too. They made that crystal clear over a half-hour set that was a very pleasant surprise. The band is marked by top-notch tech/prog death metal, full of unexpected twists and great ideas, topped off by the energetic and chatty vocalist Samuel Ouimet, who with his stage moves and somewhat beefier neck, intentionally or not, reminded us of none other than Corpsegrinder. The warm-up was way, way better than expected, and it’s not the least bit surprising that Brought By Pain have just signed with the renowned label Season of Mist, where they’ll release a new studio album.

The French Canadians were followed by the only non-French-speaking band of the night, the American Entheos, founded three years ago by former members of bands like Animals As Leaders, The Faceless, Animosity and Scale the Summit. From that alone it’s not hard to guess that this was perhaps the most technically gifted band of the night, but also the biggest “black sheep,” since they differed the most in genre from the other three acts and were the most “djenty”-sounding band. Which isn’t necessarily bad, as the energetic vocalist Chaney Crabb counts as a plus for the band, but her effects-laden “vocoder” vocals count as a minus, sounding like a bad copy of Bay’s idiotic Transformers. On top of that, Entheos had lots of electronic-sounding parts recorded on backing tracks, which was a bit harder to swallow. A technically stunning performance that, as a whole, didn’t quite convince this time.

But then, from the very first notes, we got blown away by old friends of Ljubljana stages, the French tech death heavyweights Gorod, who a good month ago released one of the best albums of their career, Aethra. Gorod have already passed ten years in business, and Aethra is their sixth studio album, and it damn well shows. The French guys flat-out exploded on stage, helped enormously by astonishing lights. Orto has never seen lighting this gorgeous. Still, the lights were just the cherry on top of Gorod in top form, who mostly presented the superb Aethra to Ljubljana this time, starting with the wrecking tornado that is Bekhten’s Curse.

Instrumentally, the band’s tightness was unbelievable, and the whole thing was crowned by the wild frontman Julien, who, as is his habit, addressed the crowd several times in clean, fluent Slovenian. It’s hard to pick a best moment, since the whole set was thunderous and merciless, but what stuck in memory the most was the new album’s title track, mainly thanks to its mighty chorus, “An ocean of stars…”

After Gorod wrapped up, we really needed a moment to catch our breath. But there wasn’t actually much time for that, since the Canadians Beyond Creation were already swinging onto the stage, the band that shook up the technical death metal world years ago with their debut The Aura. The Canadians take quite a while with their albums, and it really shows, because it’s hard to find albums crafted with more filigree-fine precision. On this tour Beyond Creation played their new album Algorythm in full, and even if you’re not a fan of progressive/technical death metal, you have to admit it’s downright incredible what these four musicians are capable of creating. (Rok)

So the band decided to offer more and played the entire new record, which is a pretty risky move. But on the other hand, it makes sense for a band to show where it’s headed with its new release.

With the first two songs it was clear that Beyond Creation remain technical and full of virtuosity, yet brutal at the same time. By the second song, Surface’s Echoes, it was obvious enough that the band wouldn’t ease off on the fast, technical playing. They don’t lack precision either. This is an extremely tight band, which is pretty hard to maintain in extreme music. Above all, it was visible that they put a lot of time into their instruments. With the following songs, Beyond Creation also showed more of a sense for calm and atmosphere. Algorythm and The Inversion stood out here, with the band showing a step forward in its evolution and underlining that they’re increasingly leaning toward the progressive. The already compelling performance was further spiced up by the stage lights, which gave the music even more atmosphere. But apparently that wasn’t enough, because they brought in orchestrations for the closing song. It makes sense to close the circle in a more epic way, though it was unexpected from Beyond Creation.

After playing the whole new album, the band came back with three songs from the first and second albums, which wasn’t enough, but the new album was really the focus anyway. Besides, Beyond Creation showed everything they’re known for, so there shouldn’t be a bad impression. (Primož)

What they delivered in a good hour and a quarter was simply stunning and pure proof that beauty can hide even in brutality. Gorgeous!

The next technical treat follows on 5.12.2018 with Revocation, Archspire, Soreption and Rivers of Nihil.

authors: Rok Klemše, Primož Novak (Beyond Creation section)

photos: Aleš Podbrežnik