Bryan Beller Announces Star-Studded​ Solo Album

by | Jul 17, 2019 | New Releases, New Video, News

Photo by Jon Luini

BRYAN BELLER’S NEW SOLO WORK, ‘SCENES FROM THE FLOOD’, AN EPIC-SCALE MODERN PROGRESSIVE DOUBLE CONCEPT ALBUM,  TO BE RELEASED ON SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2019; PRE-ORDERS NOW AVAILABLE

As a bassist and composer, Bryan Beller (The Aristocrats, Joe Satriani, Dethklok, Steve Vai) has never been accused of being insufficiently driven. But nothing he’s done before can truly prepare audiences for his newest release, the massively ambitious and unapologetically progressive double concept album Scenes From The Flood, scheduled for worldwide release on September 13th, now available for pre-order at bryanbeller.com. 

A work so sweeping in scale that it took Beller nearly a decade to conceive, compose, and now fully realize, the album grapples with an existential question: When the storm comes for us, the big one after which things will not be the same, who are we and what do we become in those defining moments? What do we keep, and what do we let go? Scenes From The Flood explores themes of ambition and loss, intentionality and reality, hope and disillusionment, and uses every second of its 18-song, 88-minute running order to tell an emotionally consuming and unforgettable musical story. 

Realizing Beller’s vision meant enlisting 26 musicians spread across four continents to bring Scenes From The Flood to life. Special guests on guitar include legends Joe Satriani (on the optimistic, “road trip” vibed opening track “Volunteer State”), John Petrucci (who lays down  a screaming lead on the 9-minute story-climactic progressive epic “World Class”), Guthrie Govan (taking the lead on the album’s closing ballad “Sweet Water”), and Mike Keneally (going from layered acoustics on one track to furious metal riffing on another), just four of fourteen total guitarists who appear on the album. Drummers include veterans Gene Hoglan (Dethklok, Strapping Young Lad, Death), Joe Travers (Zappa Plays Zappa, Joe Satriani), Ray Hearne (Haken), and Nate Morton (Cher, The Voice)

uly 1st marked the debut of the animated video for one of the album’s signature tunes, “The Storm”, a dark and heavy odyssey that serves as one of the signature compositions of Beller’s new opus. The 7-minute piece features the aforementioned metal legend Gene Hoglan on drums and an army of four guitarists to deliver the song’s urgent, powerful message. See it here:

“Not exactly light fare, is it?” chuckles Beller, who just turned 48. “But all of my truly favorite albums take me to deep, sometimes challenging places, even upon repeated listening. Especially the double albums. Somewhere inside me, in the eleven years since my last solo album, I’d absorbed and processed a series of life experiences that, I thought, could possibly inform an extended work like this. I felt like I had something big and complex to say. And then I just dove into it.”

Presented in the classic format of four vinyl sides (or four “parts” on two CD’s), Scenes From The Flood was inspired by hallowed progressive double-albums like Pink Floyd’s The Walland Yes’ Tales From Topographic Oceans, as well as more modern expanded works, such as Nine Inch Nails’ The Fragile. The deluxe packaging (2CD 8-panel digipak + two 20-page double-CD booklets; 2LP gatefold + 24-page full-size booklet) reveals not just album artwork, but unique cover-style artwork for each of the eighteen songs, or “scenes”. The resulting sense of story urgency and dramatic narrative presents like a soundtrack to a movie suspense thriller as much as it does a double album. A limited run of 200 colored (purple) vinyl will also be produced.

Scenes From The Flood is performed by: Christopher Allis, Bryan Beller, Nili Brosh, Paul Cartwright, Darran Charles, Julian Coryell, Mike Dawes, Janet Feder, Guthrie Govan, Ray Hearne, Gene Hoglan, Mike Keneally, Jamie Kime, Fred Kron, Teddy Kumpel, Jake Howsam Lowe, Evan Mazunik, Nate Morton, Rick Musallam, Mike Olekshy, Griff Peters, John Petrucci, Matt Rohde, Joe Satriani, Rishabh Seen, Joe Travers, Leah Zeger

PART ONE
The Scouring Of Three & Seventeen
Volunteer State
Everything And Nothing
A Quickening
Steiner In Ellipses

PART TWO
Always Worth it
Lookout Mountain
The Storm
The Flood

PART THREE
Bunkistan
As Advertised
Army Of The Black Rectangles
The Outer Boundary
Angles & Exits

PART FOUR
The Inner Boundary
World Class
Sweet Water
Let Go Of Everything

Scenes From The Flood will be released on September 13th, 2019. Pre-orders are now available. All studio and live releases from Bryan Beller can be purchased at http://bryanbeller.com

For more information on Bryan Beller and Scenes From The Flood, please visit:
Website: http://bryanbeller.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bryanbellerbass/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bryanbeller
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bryanbellerbass

Flux Conduct To Release 2nd Album ‘Yetzer Hara’ January 24th 2017

by | Sep 19, 2016 | News

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I am proud to announce my second solo venture ‘Yetzer Hara’ to be released through the Flux Conduct project. The release date will be my birthday, January 24th 2017 with pre orders beginning today, September 19th, 2016.

‘Yetzer Hara’ is ‘Hebrew’ meaning ‘The Evil Inclination’.
Multiple times in the Hebrew bible it states ‘Yetzer lev-ha-adam ra’ which means ‘the imagination of the heart of man is evil’. It’s believed that man is born equally between perfection (God – Yetzer Tov) and deficiency (Evil – Yetzer Hara). He isn’t drawn to either but is able to achieve which path he chooses through his own free will. For this album, I wanted to focus on the dark side of the potential path.

The album features 7 full tracks which represent the main 7 sins of man as said in the Christian Bible…. Envy, Lust, Wrath, Sloth. Gluttony, Pride and Greed. Musically and lyrically they are tied with either events in the world or the flaws that I see in myself and others on a daily basis. The meaning portrayed by each song will be available to read in both the CD and Vinyl versions of the record.

Unlike my previous solo album, I felt as though vocal hooks and lyrics were needed to accentuate the fundamentals of what I was trying to portray musically. For this, I enlisted the vocal talent of Renny Carroll from Forever Never. I appreciate that some people connect with music more so, there will be an instrumental version of the album as well.

Renny and myself have gone to some of the darkest places we’ve experienced to write the lyrics for this album. Focusing on our personal perception, we aimed to portray the meaning of each sin to the fullest and fairest.

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The track listing is as follows:
In Pursuit Of Happiness – Portraying Envy
Melancholia – Portraying Sloth
Biohate – Portraying Wrath
The Deluge – Interlude (portraying the great flood)
Concupiscence – Portraying Lust
Harlequinade – Portraying Gluttony
Weltschmerz – Interlude (portraying a person who believes reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind)
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree – Portraying Pride
Memento Mori – Portraying Greed

The artwork and merchandise were illustrated by Emily Yeadon & Christian Soden.

The figure in the artwork was hand drawn by Emily and digitized by Christian. The figure is exposed without their outer shell and the world as their heart. The lack of shell is to represent that we are all but the same, there is no hierarchy..and that we should only be judged by our actions, without prejudice. The Earth represented as a heart signifies that the world is what we make it. The geometric shape behind the figure (drawn by Christian Soden) is composed of multiple feathers of the peacock. An animal known for it’s pride. Pride is considered the gateway to the all other sins of man.

Vocals written and Performed by Renny Carroll, unless stated otherwise.
All instruments written and performed by Myself – John Browne, unless stated otherwise.

Guests include the ever amazing Mike Dawes and Olly Steele with more TBA later on.

The album clocks in at around 41 minutes in length and will be available as a double CD, Quad Vinyl and 24 bit/48khz digital formats.

Enjoy the trailer. The music in this video is taken from ‘The Deluge’.