''Celestial Completion'' is the fourth studio album by the American heavy metal band

Becoming the Archetype Becoming the Archetype is an American Christian metal band formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1999. They have released five albums on Solid State Records. ''Dichotomy'', which was released in November 2008, sold around 2,300 copies in the United St ...

, released on March 29, 2011 through

Solid State Records Solid State Records is a Christian metalcore record label, an imprint of Tooth & Nail Records. Unlike Tooth & Nail, Solid State signs hardcore punk and heavy metal bands. Like Tooth & Nail, Solid State is primarily a Christian label. However, ...

. Becoming the Archetype added some diversity and unusual elements to their sound on ''Celestial Completion''. The album features instruments and techniques that are not common for a metal band, including:

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

s, tamburas,

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

s, an intro with "operatic soprano vocals and four-part harmony," and a recording of a

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

. In April 2010, when the group was only in the early stages of writing a new album, ''Celestial Completion'' was given the working title of ''In a Monstrous World of Half-Human Deities, Some People Will Unfortunately Die from Old Age''. Ryan Clark, art director for Solid State Records and vocalist for

Demon Hunter Demon Hunter is an American Christian metal band from Seattle, Washington, started in 2000 by brothers Don Clark and Ryan Clark. Although the brothers created the band together, only Ryan remains, since Don left the band to take care of his ...

, contacted

Dan Seagrave Daniel Seagrave (born 1970) is a British artist, who created many record covers for death metal bands especially in the early 1990s. He lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He grew up in Ravenshead, near Nottingham. Seagrave's works are typically ...

to design the artwork for ''Celestial Completion''. Seagrave had previously designed the art for Becoming the Archetype's debut album ''

Terminate Damnation ''Terminate Damnation'' is the debut album by Christian progressive death metal band Becoming the Archetype, released on August 30, 2005. The title of the album was taken from the song "Terminate Damnation" from the Mortification album, ''Scrolls ...

''. In its debut week, ''Celestial Completion'' sold approximately 2,100 copies and ranked at number 7 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

chart. The title of track four, "The Path of the Beam", is a reference to

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

's '' The Dark Tower'', which bassist/vocalist,

Jason Wisdom Jason Wisdom is the lead vocalist and bass guitarist for the Christian progressive death metal band Becoming the Archetype. Though he was born and raised in a Christian home, he states that he was never committed to Christianity until high sch ...

, & guitarist/keyboardist/clean vocalist, Seth Hecox are both fans of. This would be vocalist/bassist Jason Wisdom's and drummer Brent Duckett's last album with Becoming the Archetype until 2022, as they both parted ways with the band in November 2011.

Track listing

Personnel

''Celestial Completion'' credits as adapted from Allmusic. ;Becoming the Archetype *

- vocals/bass * Count Seth Hecox - guitars/keys/vocals * Daniel Gailey - guitars/vocals * Brent "Duck" Duckett - drums ;Additional musicians * Ivey Norton – vocals on tracks 1 & 7 * Nathan O'Brien – trombone on track 1 * Dennis Culp (

Five Iron Frenzy Five Iron Frenzy is an American band formed in Denver, Colorado, in 1995. Best known for playing ska punk music characterized by an offbeat sense of humor and prominent Christian themes, Five Iron was one of the pioneering figures of the Christi ...

)– trombone on track 9 * Kim Stice – violin on track 11 * Sean Patrick Murphy – sitar, tambura & tablas on tracks 6 & 8 ;Production and recording * Troy Glessner – mastering *

Matt Goldman Matt Goldman (born December 30, 1969) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixer, and songwriter based in Atlanta, Georgia. Biography Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States, Goldman is a drummer by trade. Goldman c ...

– engineer, mixing, producer * Matt McClellan – engineer ;Artwork and packaging * Becoming the Archetype – art direction * Ryan Clark – design *

– painting * Troy Stains – band photo

References

{{Authority control 2011 albums Becoming the Archetype albums Solid State Records albums Albums produced by Matt Goldman Albums with cover art by Dan Seagrave