Aug 162011
 

I’ve mentioned that I have an impulse-control problem. Case in point: I took a short break from the job I’m actually being paid to do so I could check my NCS e-mail, and I saw the name Beyond Creation in a press release I got, and the short break turned into a long break. You may remember Beyond Creation — a Montreal band whose Marco Hasmann album cover for their 2011 debut, The Aura, lured us into checking out the music in one of our EYE-CATCHERS posts (here). To quote myself (because if I don’t, who else will?):

“We’re too lazy to keep Best of the Year lists, but if we did, I’m pretty sure The Aura would be in my personal Top 20, maybe my Top 10. . . Beyond Creation is a head-spinning trip like few bands you’ll hear this year.”

What I learned in the press release from Ricburn Media were three things: First, there’s a Toronto death-metal band called Nephelium who will be releasing their new album, Coils of Entropy, on August 20. Second, to celebrate the event, Nephelium is headlining a CD release show in Toronto on the same day, with support from (you guessed it) Beyond Creation, as well as two other Toronto bands, Nexortus and Fragile Existence. Third, to celebrate the event, the four bands on the bill teamed up to make available a free digital split via Bandcamp, consisting of one song from each band.

I just like everything about the way this is being done, but most especially, I like the idea of offering a free digital comp to promote a metal show — one song from each band. IMHO, the same idea would work just as well for tours, too. In addition to helping spotlight the show, it also uses the show to help introduce fans to the bands’ music. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

Jun 042011
 

It’s been almost two months since our last installment of EYE-CATCHERS, and it seemed like a good time to renew this series of posts, especially after publishing BadWolf’s artistic analysis of Travis Smith’s cover art for the new Opeth album earlier this week. While I’m on that subject, I have a new piece of information to add about the appearance of the Opeth band members’ heads in the tree on that cover — which seems to be a source of controversy about the artwork, even spawning rumors that the cover art released this week is just an elaborate prank and isn’t actually the true cover.

That piece of information came to us via NCS reader markus, who informed us of the artistic linkage between the Opeth tree and the jinmenju. Go here to see what markus was referring to. I still don’t think the cover is a prank.

To remind you, the object of these EYE-CATCHERS posts is to listen to new music based solely on the attractiveness of their album covers — testing the completely irrational hypothesis that cool album art correlates with cool music.

Our test subject for today is a Montreal band called Beyond Creation, who released their debut album The Aura in April. The cover art was created by Marco Hasmann, who has created equally eye-catching covers for the likes of NCS favorites Fleshgod Apocalypse and Blasphemer, as well as a host of brutal death metal bands. I think of all the bands we’ve featured in this series, Beyond Creation has been our most successful subject. We’re too lazy to keep Best of the Year lists, but if we did, I’m pretty sure The Aura would be in my personal Top 20, maybe my Top 10. If you appreciate the music of Obscura, The Faceless, or Augury, Beyond Creation will blow your fucken minds. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »