Style: Technical brutal death metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: Mediocrity with moments of pure brilliance
Thoughts: Brutal death metal and I have a bit of a mixed relationship. It's hard for me to get into the breakdowns, and the chugga chugga really doesn't do much for me as much as it used to. I feel like I've moved beyond the confines of the genre and it takes something pretty special to get me to enjoy it.
Technical death metal and I have a bit of a mixed relationship. It's hard for me to get into the more notes more better song writing style, and a lot of the time it seems like the music has no sense of direction. I feel like I've moved beyond the confines of the and these days it takes something pretty special for me to enjoy it.
Beyond Creation play technical brutal death metal... they already have two strikes against them just by the style they play. That said, these guys have the benefit of me getting into them when I was more open to death metal. Even these days when I'm not nearly as open to the style as I used to be, there is something here for me.
For most of the album the music is well executed death metal with incredibly technical riffs that ascribe to the more notes more better philosophy. The big difference is that they actually do keep the overall song in mind though... at least sometimes.
Most of these songs are enjoyable enough to listen to, at least to the point where I won't turn them off if they are playing in the background. All of them save one are competent, and do a great job of representing the style. But there is that one song.
Coexistence is not just a song, its a journey. It's the one outlier on the album... it's not a good song... it's an epic. It combines the very best part of technical death metal, brutal breakdowns, epic songwriting (listen to that acoustic breakdown in the middle of the song), and it actually sounds like a complete song over its seven minute time period.
The songs riff are all over the place, but they are not impossible to follow. The breakdowns are deep and chuggy, then they breakdown the breakdown... this is the stuff of deathcore and I normally hate it. Here though it's done so incredibly well that my brain just short circuits. The way the song goes back to the original riff at the end as well is the perfect send off to a near perfect song.
The Aura is one of the better albums in the tech death field. It keeps me interested throughout the run time and never feels like it overstays its welcome. I passed it up years ago when it first got pressed and I've always regretted it. I recently found it for dirt cheap on discogs, so finally had a chance to rectify the mistake. I'm really glad I did.
Written July 29th 2024
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