Consider me one of those vociferous twats who felt it necessary to tell the world that my impotence towards technical death metal had been partly alleviated by Beyond Creation's "The Aura." I referred to Beyond Creation as The Ultimate in my review of "The Aura" because I thought the band's resemblance to Doomsday, a Superman villain nicknamed The Ultimate, was uncanny. "The Aura" sounded like the peak of technical death metal in a variety of ways. Beyond Creation proved to be musically complex yet creatively enriched, doing what Necrophagist et al. do, but on echelons the horde can only look up to from the gutter. Upon arrival, Beyond Creation beat the best at their own game.My biggest fear coming into "Earthborn Evolution" (and I did, trust me) was that "The Aura" had just been a fluke. It seems that way when stacking up the debut to "Earthborn Evolution," which feels a bit rusty at times and wants nothing to do with cleaning up its room, much unlike Beyond Creation's dependable, high-achieving firstborn. While much remains the same, the songs just aren't as fulfilling. Perhaps this is due to seeing Beyond Creation perform the same trick, albeit an abstract one, that we saw back in 2011, when the whole act was a new and revitalizing approach along a strip of monkeys sweep picking over gravity beats and incoherent bass noodling. Upon further analysis of the specimen, it seems The Ultimate has more in common with its inferior counterparts than first thought.
The element of technical showmanship sounds more like a spectacle of incredible talents than a conduit to achieve remarkable tracks that have a complex backbone. It's hard not to be impressed by the convoluted rhythms and off-kilter drum patterns that somehow all interlock to make cohesive anthems, but I feel the complex parts are often overdone. There are few slices of "Earthborn Evolution" that are directly memorable or catchy-bits like the prog-laden break on "Coexistence" or the straightforward sections of "The Deported" are dearly missed. It seems Beyond Creation is solely banking on the pure awe of their outlandish chemistries and abilities to drive the album, and by doing so, they drop down a peg or two.
I don't find it coincidental that the title track, whose procedural elements are noticeably scaled back, is not just the best tune here, but perhaps the finest song in the Beyond Creation catalog. Its soft prog-laden guitar work serves to balance the harsher themes of the band's algebraic assault, and I really can't think of another staple that sums up the creative and instrumental aptitudes of the Beyond Creation collective. Songs like "Elusive Reverence" and "The Great Revelation" show the complete spectrum on which this group can operate when the songwriting comes first; they stand proudly on the tier of "The Aura," unbothered by the climate. As expected, it's a worthwhile endeavor to see the masterful creative avenues they venture upon.
A lot of this charm dissipates from "Abstrait Dialog" and "The Axiom," tracks lost somewhere in the constant storm of mathematical riffs and perplexing rhythms. "Theatrical Delirium" and "Fundamental Process" make up for the lacking moments by the end of it, but the weaker parts around "Earthborn Evolution" remain in sight. As usual, Dominic "Forest" Lapointe shows off an entire BDSM dungeon of bass porn, work which colors up the dreary bits considerably. I'm going to give "Earthborn Evolution" a solid rating, because it actually isn't too bad; there are signs of deterioration here, however. It's flashier than "The Aura," bigger than "The Aura," more bombastic than "The Aura," but not on the same level as "The Aura." Better than most? Yep. The undisputed crown of technical death metal? Far from it.