Album Review! SPAWN OF POSSESSION – Incurso

When the music starts, it’s a quick tease of heaviness then an epic introduction that reminds me of the Mako Reactor soundtrack from Final Fantasy 7 when you first start the game. When that is done, it’s straight into technical death metal greatness. Spawn of Possession are rather new to me, I’ve never really listened to them before. When they released a single of theirs about a month ago I was swept off of my feet and highly anticipating the release of their album, “Incurso“. Well now it’s here: the first thing you notice is the art. The album art is fucking nuts, I don’t know what that floating thing is but it looks like is has nothing but bad intentions for that dude and the entire world.

Back to the music, you have some of the most exciting and creative song writing since Necrophagist’s “Epitaph“. The riffs are very technical and melodic at the same time and somehow amidst all of that chaos they hold down a very tight rhythmic pattern that is unlike anything I’ve previously heard. Bass guitar has unique patterns and leads as well and what I love about the bass guitar is the fact it’s pretty audible. It’s not overwhelming or behind the drums, it’s perfectly blended with the music. The drums…..I bet drummer Henrik Schönström must put WD-40 on his joints after performing each song because his intensity, speed and savagery is just pushing the limits as to what can be done by a human being on that kit. Vocals are mainly low with some mid-range screaming in there. He does this thing that many tech death bands do and that’s grunt 10,000 words a minute. Growling out words as fast as the double bass drum is going. The band as a whole has created one hell of an album and if you enjoy technical death metal, you’re in for a treat.

Like Technical Death Metal? Try ARCHSPIRE

Archspire recently released a guitar video for their track “Rapid Elemental Dissolve” and this was my first time listening to the band. This shit fucking rules!!!! Music is brutal and vocals are maniacal.

MORE THINGS THAT KICKED ASS IN 2011

Here is some more greatness of 2011. More personal opinions that hardly matter but I feel as though they should be shared. Here are some more “best of 2011″ mini-lists. An award ceremony if you will. Except there are no awards. The only award is us listening to them and their music.

BEST EP

1 – ††† (Crosses)- †

2 – Deadfall – New Light

3 – Immolation – Providence

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BEST RIFFS

 1 – Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising

2 – Crowbar – Sever The Wicked Hand

3 – Woods of Ypres – Woods IV

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BEST BASSIST

1 – Dominic “Forest” Lapointe of Beyond Creation

2 – Chris Corey of Last Chance To Reason

3 – Alex Webster of Blotted Science

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BEST LEAD GUITARIST

1 – David Davidson of Revocation

2 – Simon Girard and Kevin Chartre of Beyond Creation

3 – Johan Söderberg and Olavi Mikkonen of Amon Amarth

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BEST DRUMMER

1 – Francesco Paoli of Fleshgod Apocalypse

 2 – Jade Simonetto of Hate Eternal

3 – Phil Dubois-Coyne of Revocation

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BEST SINGER (CLEAN VOCALS)

1 – Michael Lessard of Last Chance To Reason

2 – Joseph E. Martinez of Junius

3 – Chelsea Wolfe

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BEST VOCALS

 1 – Simon Girard of Beyond Creation

2 – Erik Rutan of Hate Eternal

3 – Johan Hegg of Amon Amarth

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BEST ALBUM COVER

Revocation – Chaos of Forms

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BEST INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM/EP

1 – Scale The Summit – The Collective

2 – Russian Circles – Empros

3 – Blotted Science – The Animation of Entomology

Top 20 albums of 2011 – Part II: The Top 10!

Here it is….my overall top 10 of the year.

10. Chimaira – The Age of Hell – Songs that will make you drive a little faster…each song is great and you will definitely headbang and sing along. The work done on this is some of their best work since The Impossibility of Reason and it’s the last album that Matt and Rob will be apart of.

 

9. Mastodon – The Hunter – Excellent writing that is more prog than thrash/rock. Still very heavy and catchy. Masters of their craft.

 

8. Splattered Entrails – Nauseate – Death slam grind that does one thing and one thing well, be as brutal as possible. Mike O’Hara  makes some of the best slam grind on the internet. Truly speaker destroying and gut wrenching stuff.

 

7. Crowbar – Sever the Wicked Hand – Those riffs, man! God damn. These slow songs really make you headbang hard. Good tunes!

 

6. Suicide Silence – The Black Crown – The most groovin’ album Suicide Silence has ever released! Some great riffs and awesome guest appearances too! The band is tighter than ever and the energy captured by the band is intense.

 

5. Hate Eternal – Phoenix Amongst The Ashes – True death metal that delivers. Running on all cylinders, the machine that is Hate Eternal punishes those who attempt to consume it whole. This album is dangerously fast and the riffs are fucking intense.

 

4. Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising – It’s Amon Amarth…of course it’s going to kick ass! Back with more great riffs, solo’s and amazing screams from Johan Hegg! Surtur Rising is just another chapter of the mighty Amon Amarth in their quest to conquer the world! Seeing this entire album performed live also was another highlight of the year. Great on the speakers and just as amazing live.

 

3. Beyond Creation – The Aura – A surprise tech-death band that I’ve never heard of, The Aura blows me away every single time I listen to it. If you need a band to scratch that Necrophagist itch, Beyond Creation will scratch it and then some. Very satisfying album. Some of the best guitar/bass playing and drumming I’ve heard all year.

 

2. Woods of Ypres – Woods IV: The Green Album – Blackened Doom that caught me off guard. I listened to this album hundreds of times this past year. It has a lot to offer since it’s a long album and it covers many more genres from an angle. The album is one emotional ride and tells a great story. Woods IV has inspired me to not only implement some of this style in my own guitar playing, but to start this blog and tell people of the lesser known bands that are incredibly good. Excellent writing and I just can’t help but sing along.

 

 

1. Last Chance To Reason – Level 2 – “We eat videogames and shit music.” Fuck yes they do. Level 2 is a groovin electric progressive technical metal album with harmonizing vocals, guitars and tons of poly-rhythmic playing all over the place. I love this album. It’s the best of both worlds, amazing metal combined with a layer of video game influence. The song writing is mind blowing and album as a whole is more than satisfying. Level 2 is just simply amazing, it’s definitely the best album I’ve heard this year. What a treat. From beginning to end it’s just a masterpiece.

Random Lyric of the Day! BEYOND CREATION – Coexistence

When the universal darkness is covering the earth, and hold us tight
Some spying eyes are drawn to the sky stuck upon it,

Filled with interrogations
They are questioning about life:
What is the reason for our presence here?
And what can we do to prevent human mistakes?

When the first minute of the day arrives with this total silence
Some light crystal beams are penetrating the room
Delivering this darkness that doesn’t show me
In which world of trouble we are living

Pressure, slaughtery, crime and monetary shit…

My eyes are opening to a totally different world!!
A cepage of flesh that awaits to be hacked up

Feeding your deadliest thoughts
Human of century
No more can I accept these lies

They are all standing there, without anyone talking and no reason to be heard.
But life is so important! This life is yours
When someone chooses to take or give life
Many lives are resting on their shoulders

[Solo: Kevin]

It’s a choice to make, the way of life you’ll take
So I wish you to take the good path!

If society can’t accept itself, how could it deal with each individuality
This nightmare must be overcome
This truth is for us!!
It’s a scar that cannot be healed but it could be known
At this point, coexistence could be a scheme.

FRETBOARD FRIDAY! Scale The Summit & Beyond Creation

Let’s check out some videos of some great guitar/bass players doing what they do best. Admire the talent. Today I am going to post two videos. One great guitar player and one great bass player. Scale The Summit and Beyond Creation are two incredibly talented bands and the musicianship is friggin amazing. I think they put out some amazing tunes. Enjoy, Fretboard Friday!

Wednesday Wreck-ommendations (Music to kill your ears and speakers to)

I know it’s Thursday morning but I was too busy to post this yesterday.

My WRECK-ommendation for this week is Beyond Creation’s The Aura. The album is crushing and fans of technical death metal will fully appreciate this album. I love the presence of the bass guitar on the album as well. Beyond Creation is like Necrophagist after a bowl of Wheaties. Yup. Just listen to it…

Next up is Mike O’Hara from the band Splattered Entrails bringing you his wreck-ommendation for today.

I’ll recommend The Red Shore’s“Unconsecrated”. It’s a real brutal album, simply. Most death metal fans might be quick to judge, but give it a listen. It’s actually really fucking good.

Next up is my wonderful fiance, mother of my child and soul-mate, Jennifer Porter, whom has a wreck-ommedation as well.

Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine is and forever will remain a classic. Every song has it’s own special meaning to me. I can relate to every song in at least one point or another in my life, I think we all can. There is a power to the music of Nine Inch Nails, which soothes the soul. Whenever I’m going through some shit, NIN has an album for it. This one would be my “depression/heartbroken/rejection” album.

Beyond Creation – Omnipresent Perception – Bass Guitar Video

“Omnipresent Perception” on bass performed by Dominic ‘Forest’ Lapointe from the Montreal progressive death metal band BEYOND CREATION.
Off the album “The Aura”

This album is one of my recent favorites. One reason being that excellent bass guitar work. Beyond Creation are an incredibly good technical death metal band which I gave pretty high praise to in my review. I love seeing the members performing live on stage, I also enjoy seeing these individual videos of them playing their part. Another cool thing I want to point out…Dominic is playing a lefty 6 string fretless. That in itself is cool but what he does with this beast….so good. Enjoy.

 

Qreview! Beyond Creation – The Aura

Beyond Creation is a band I’ve never heard of before. I was browsing through Heavy Blog’s review catalog and noticed this album. So I listened to it, not knowing what to expect. Beyond Creation is a technical death metal band that is still about creating heavy rhythm instead of just focusing on diddling all over the fretboard. Which I love about the band…The songs are heavy and catchy as fuck. I love how layered the music is but they are so well produced that all of the instruments levels are perfect. You can hear the guitars, drums and bass as well as the vocals all at the same time and clearly. Nothing is over one another and since it’s a tech-death album you would think this would be difficult…not at all. Each song is done perfectly. Each having their own power to them but you can expect this everytime: you will headbang. I couldn’t help myself. The songs are truly magnificent!

We are all waiting for Necrophagist to release new material….they haven’t released anything new since 2004. But like I tweeted last week, many many bands have come out since then and are better than or atleast on par with them. Beyond Creation is very much so on par if not better than Necrophagist. The music is done well and at times it’s just chilling. I absolutely love the bass guitar work done on the album. Guitar leads are insane and drumming is fucking brutal. Every track is a masterpiece on it’s own…and to get 10 of them (even the super short instrumentals are insanely brilliant) is a fucking treat. Besides just the well done tech, the songs rhythms sections and verses are fucking heavy and make you want to punch the next person you see.

They need to play this shit in a gym, fuck that poppy techno shit. Beyond Creation is an adrenaline pumper. Not just with fast music but with intense music…powerful music. The Aura is a killer album that I did not see coming and I am sure glad I listened to it. I highly recommend it if you’re into death metal or great musicianship.

Pro: perfect production quality, songs are brilliant, instruments are fucking pro, catchy parts, heavy rhythm and brutal riffs

Con: lol…there are none.

5 out of 5