Beyond Creation, Ne Obliviscaris Rip It Up Down Under

Beyond Creation

I’ll be real with you all — I completely forgot to write this until now.

Last week was been crazy busy for me personally and I haven’t had time to sit down and write this anyway.

Professional as fuck, right?

Anyway, Ne Obliviscaris headlined this gig but to be truthful I was way more stoked for the almighty Beyond Creation. The titchy (I mean seriously, they’re fucking tiny) techdeath masters finally came down to Australia in the wake of their newest release, Earthborn Evolution, while NeO were touring in support of their new album, Citadel.

The sound was a mixed bag. Beyond Creation’s sound was very distinctly average, with loud as fuck lead guitar with no oomph in the rhythm at all. Not to mention the drums were essentially inaudible while the bass was way too loud. Ne Obliviscaris’ mix, on the other hand, was right on point. It sounded better than their album mix, which is saying something.

I just don’t understand Billboard anymore, man. They’re perfectly capable of stunning mixing but NOOOO only the headliner gets it, not the dudes who flew all the way from fucking Canada. Let me just say this: you can see NeO here for $15 if not less at a local gig; the tickets to this were $30.

The vast majority of people I knew were going for Beyond Creation. I’m not saying that Billboard just doesn’t even try mixing for openers anymore but… I’m beginning to see a pattern with the shows there (HOUR OF PENANCE, YOU BASTARDS). Ok, rant over.

Despite the chronic sound issues that were gigantic pain in the ass, Beyond Creation were nothing short of stellar. Opening with fan favorite “Omnipresent Perception,” they tore up the stage and shredded so hard their guitars could have caught fire.

They were utterly brilliant. Majestic, even. Their set was the best bits of Earthborn Evolution and The Aura and I couldn’t have been happier with it, I just thought putting Omnipresent Perception first was weird.

Considering how popular it is wouldn’t it make more sense going last? It was a great intro though, easily getting the crowd pumped for the rest of the set. I didn’t realize just how much the title track of Earthborn Evolution sounded like Gojira, though.

Not a bad thing at all by any means, it’s fantastic, I just happened to notice it then. After a near-perfect set, Beyond Creation left the stage, and the curtain went down while Ne Obliviscaris set up.

There’s one thing I most prominently remember about Ne Obliviscaris’ set — if I had epilepsy I probably would have had six fits in the space of 5 minutes. As the curtain raised it was pitch black, then BAM, the most annoying, and more importantly, blinding light I have ever had the misfortune of seeing blasted at me several times a second. I’m not even epileptic and I could feel a seizure coming.

That aside, NeO’s set was pretty great. I wasn’t too keen on Citadel when I listened to it, but hearing it live it made a lot more sense to me.

Plus, it wasn’t a straight-Citadel set, which was nice. Combining the highlights of Portal of I with Citadel, NeO were probably the best I’ve seen them. Tim (Charles, violin/vocals) said as much, saying that it was the biggest and best crowd he’d played to so far. Individually masters of their instruments and tight as fuck as a band, they played phenomenally well.

The crowd was loving it too, and considering how well they played that night, it’s not hard to see why. I was kind of disappointed when they didn’t play “And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope” during their set, then remembered they had an encore, in which they played it, wrapping up a pretty great night.

All in all, a pretty great show. Despite all my bitching it was a fun night, for sure. You know the drill by now, go check out the bands you don’t know and definitely swing by the shows they play in your area. I’m not sure what my next gig will be but I’ll be doing a thing about Hybrid Nightmares and their new material so stay tuned for that. Until next time.

Beyond Creation setlist:
1. Elusive Reverence
2. Omnipresent Perception
3. Earthborn Evolution
4. Neurotical Transmission
5. Sous la lueur de l’Empereur
6. Coexistence
7. Fundamental Process
8. No Request for the Corrupted

Ne Obliviscaris setlist:
1. Painters of the Tempest (Part I): Wyrmholes
2. Painters of the Tempest (Part II): Triptych Lux
3. Painters of the Tempest (Part III): Reveries from the Stained Glass Womb
4. Xenoflux
5. Forget Not
6. Of Petrichor Weaves Black Noise
7. Pyrrhic
8. Devour Me, Colossus (Part I): Blackholes
Encore:
9. And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope

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