Haunting metallic hardcore from Cleveland, Ohio, Pale Creation blend atmospheric beauty with absolute brutal force. While experimenting in all styles of extreme music, Pale Creation have been compared to Cleveland's forefathers of the genre, Integrity and Ringworm.
Review by aversiononline.com
"The first release from the newly resurrected Holy Terror Records is "Before Twilight and After", a 24-track, 78-minute (almost) discography collection from Cleveland's always underrated Pale Creation. Opening with one "new" track, "Kaliira", which I believe was recorded about three years ago around the time that the band regrouped for a reunion show in Cleveland, the disc then contains their sole full-length, 1999's "Twilight Haunt" (originally on East Coast Empire Records), as well as the four tracks from their extremely rare split CD with Repugnant (originally on Repentance Verified Records, released in either 2000 or 2001, I can't recall), with the eight tracks from their absolutely excellent 1992 demo tacked onto the end of the CD. This is pretty much everything the band ever recorded, sans the instrumental outro from "Twilight Haunt" ("Procession", likely omitted due to time constraints for its less-than-mandatory status) and the six tracks from their 1994 demo sessions.
The inclusion of the 1992 demo and "Twilight Haunt" alone really gives you a feel for the massive evolution Pale Creation endured throughout their near-decade of existence, sprouting up from a crossover-tinged thrash metal act with almost Dave Mustaine-like vocals to a much darker and more diverse take on the metal-based hardcore for which Cleveland is so revered. The light vocal effects and droning guitar work present throughout "Twilight Haunt" really lend a different sort of feel to classic tracks like "Trade a Soul", among others. In fact, the closest Pale Creation ever came to sounding more like their Clevo hardcore forefathers was on their final release, the split CD with Repugnant, where they stripped down to a rawer, more in your face attack, with shorter songs and harsher, more direct vocals - which, when devoid of effects, actually had much more in common with Dwid's inimitable screams. But even the centerpiece of that release, the absolutely awesome "The Rest of Forever", revisits some of the more twisted riffing and droning leads of "Twilight Haunt", so… Pale Creation was always operating just outside the bounds of what was considered "normal" for whatever scenes they were tending to fall within. And that's certainly not a bad thing, granted it may provide some additional insight as to why the band never received their due.
The disc is packaged in a standard jewel case with more superb artwork from the one and only Stephen Kasner, as well as a five-and-a-half-page complete history of Pale Creation, which goes into plenty of detail - right down to the fact that my old blog posts about the band's two demos back in the summer of 2005 may have provided the first spark that eventually led to this CD. If that's the case, I have to say that I'm honored to have played even a small role in leading to the proper release of such a collection, and I certainly hope the renewed interest in the whole "holy terror" thing that's going on right now will finally bring some more appreciative listeners to this sorely overlooked material. It's about time…"
Artist: Pale Creation
Album: Before Twilight And After : A Discography
Genre: Metal/Hardcore
Year: 2008
Tracklist:
01. Kaliira
02. Silence Effervesce
03. Manifest In Me
04. Bleed The Soil
05. Nightburned
06. Trade A Soul
07. Rage Contained
08. Desperate Calm
09. Twilight Haunt
10. Heal
11. Grief
12. Soundtrack For The Dreamscape
13. Crescent Opaque
14. Terror Blinds The Soul
15. The Rest Of Forever
16. Spark Set The Flame
17. Pale Creation
18. Misjudgement
19. Natural Assassin
20. Humanity
21. Arlington
22. Revolution Mind
23. Weeping World
24. All Are Defiled
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Labels: 2008, Before Twilight And After, cleveland, discography, download hardcore, download hardcore music, hardcore metal, holy terror, pale creation, Twilight Haunt
