Imagine the broad soundscape that would come out of putting The Dillinger Escape Plan and Tool in a room together, telling them to jam together and locking the door until they've got some material pinned down. In a nutshell, that's pretty much what's on offer from Saskatoon's Before & Apace with their debut album release "The Denisovan".
Cover art for Before & Apace's The Denisovan
Taking its influences from the finest elements of the more experimental side of Hardcore and the best of Maynard's Prog Rock tool set (excuse the pun), Before & Apace lay down epics that are almost guaranteed to blow the mind of any fan of the more progressive element of Hardcore and Metal in The Denisovan.
Before & Apace is the brainchild Devin Martyniuk, whom - as well as being the band's guitarist and backing vocalist - acts as the composer; having worked on these complex and incredibly intricate tracks for upwards of 15-years. You'd be hard-pressed, therefore, to argue that Martyniuk is nothing if not dedicated to his craft.
Collage of Devin Martyniuk (guitar), Bryce Holcomb (vocals), Kaylon Disiewich (bass) and Arlan Kopp (drums)
Speaking of one particular time that stands out to him, Martyniuk said the following of stitching together the expansive tapestry of the tracks on The Denisovan:
“We couldn’t quite figure out a good drum part for the main riff of Ontogeny. We jammed it over and over and nothing quite felt right. Eventually, I asked (drummer) Arlan Kopp if he could do steady kicks, but with a quick 32nd note during each accent, and then I tapped it out with my hands. He just started laughing. Because just before the jam, we had been talking about the Meshuggah album that had just come out that same week, which Arlan had already heard, but I hadn’t. The album was Obzen (yeah, this is a while ago now, I know) and one of the most prominent songs on that album, Bleed, uses the exact same double-kick technique as I had just suggested to Arlan, without ever having heard it myself. Nonetheless, at the risk of using someone else’s idea (even though it was thought of independently) and despite it being a ridiculously difficult thing to pull off, Arlan just said, ‘ya, that’ll sound cool. Let’s do it.”
The Denisovan releases, both as a digital download and limited run physical CD, on May 11th 2021 with pre-orders open now exclusively on Before & Apace's official Bandcamp.
Signed physical CD copies of the album will also be available at Saskatoon's Collector's Edge Comics & Games as of the May 11th launch date.
You can find their Bandcamp, and listen to their first single Ontogeny, right here.