Mixed and Mastered by Tom Maclean (Haken, Athemon, Brutta)
Unleashing their sophomore album “Beyond The Sleepless Aether” this past March, Canadian progressive blackened death unit Symbiotic Growth announces they have partnered with Bolverk Records for the physical release of the record on May 2nd, 2025.
The band comments:
“We’re proud to team up with Bolverk Records for a limited CD release of our new album. In an age of digital saturation, there’s something powerful about holding music in your hands — something tangible, raw, and real. Bolverk shares our DIY ethos, making them the perfect partner for this release. We’re stoked to bring this record to life in physical form for those who still value the ritual of pressing play.”
CD Promo Video – https://www.youtube.com/shorts/h1GV6yi5Dso
CD Pre-Order – https://www.bolverkcollective.com/symbioticgrowth
Similar to the band’s predecessor, their 2020 self-titled full-length, “Beyond The Sleepless Aether,” is once again based in fiction and is lyrically conceptual, but dives more into thoughts and emotions of everyday life, and sometimes those thoughts are hard to deal with.
“I feel like this time around, the sound is a bit darker and experimental, with more synth-heavy sounds and a melancholy atmosphere. The lyrics were very loosely inspired by a dream I (Aaron) had about the multiverse theory intertwined with some of my challenges of dealing with a sense of being and why we are all here,” says Aaron Barriault (Vocals, Guitar, Bass).
Progressive, experimental, foreboding, and emotional, every song has its own identity and place within the album’s story, taking its protagonist through the multiverse, placing him in places like dark wooded forests, wide open desert landscapes, and the unending cosmos.
The full-length listening experience tackles strong topics of loneliness, a sense of being, self-hatred, and suicide. Some of these are blatant and easy to see, and others are subtle throughout the album, lyrically and musically.
“I think the fans who have heard our previous album may be a bit surprised; the sound of this album is a bit different; it’s a little bit more experimental in its way. Either way, we hope that fans enjoy what we’ve created. I feel like the listener may have feelings of uneasiness and wonder. An odd combination, but I feel like it’s fitting.
Mixed and mastered by Tom Maclean (Twelve Tone Studio, Haken, Athemon, Brutta), “Beyond The Sleepless Aether” features seven paryalzing sounds of technical metal created by the Sudbury, ON recording line up of Aaron Barriault (Vocals, Guitar, Bass), Devin McQueen (Vocals, Guitar), and Dan Favot (Drums)(ex-Wolven Ancestry, ex-Fractal Generator). The artwork was created by Erskine Designs and shows an entity standing at the foot of what the band likes to think of as Azathoth.
“The album doesn’t touch on any Lovecraftian mythos (maybe a bit in The Sleepless Void), but the lore behind Azathoth, that we are all in his dream and once he wakes, everything will cease to be, is very fitting to the album lyrically,” adds Barriault.
Recommended for fans of Ne Oblivisacaris, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Cor Scorpii, and Gojira, “Beyond The Sleepless Aether” is availableat the following links:
YouTube (Album Stream) – https://youtu.be/CSOzIaRlo6E
Bandcamp – https://symbioticgrowth.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-sleepless-aether-3
Spotify – https://spoti.fi/42m1Mlp
Track Listing:
1. Of Painted Skies and Dancing Lights – 7:03
2. Spires Of The Boundless Sunset – 7:28
3. The Architect Of Annihilation – 10:57
4. The Sleepless Void – 9:52
5. Arid Trials and Barren Sands – 7:35
6. Lost in Fractured Reveries – 8:44
7. Trading Thoughts For Sleep – 10:02
Album Length: 1:01:43
Album Credits:
Mixed and Mastered By Tom Maclean of Twelve Tone Studio
Album Art by Erskine Designs
Album Band Line Up
Aaron Barriault – Vocals, Guitar, Bass
Devin McQueen – Vocals, Guitar
Dan Favot – Drums
Live Band Line Up
Aaron Barriault – Vocals, Guitar
Dan Favot – Drums
For more info: Facebook.com/SymbioticGrowth | Instagram.com/symbioticgrowth