Atlantis is Found !

Atrocity has returned. I don't mean that they've really gone anywhere, I don't know, but from what I've read their new album "Atlantis" is a return to the Death Metal roots. The band had experimented with a German New wave sound going so far as to do an 80's pop song cover album (Werk 80, not reviewed) . What I hear (not ever being exposed to earlier Atrocity) is a great blend of Death and Gothic Metal. This is a great album and I have to admit it threw me to hear such brutality for such a mythical topic as Atlantis.

The album blasts into you with "Reich Of Phenomena" and I'm thinking Atlanteans kick ass! And it is a non stop assault till the end. "Clash Of The Titans" has one of the best Death metal intros I've heard in a long time
. Blistering guitars and Death growls and screeches that just shred into you before it melts into an operatic/goth ending that leads into "Apocalypse" which reminds us that this is a Death Metal album at its core.

This is a concept album about the rise and fall of Atlantis and is meant to be listened to as whole. Songs like "Aeon" are gothy and chant like that help transition songs and story. I mention this because, though being a concept album, Atrocity included a radio single. Wanna know how I can tell? Cause you can't miss it! "Cold Black Days" does not have the raw edge and Death/goth metal feel of the rest of the album. It is straight goth metal tune which would not be out of place at "The Vatican", "Savage Garden" or even "Velvet Underground" (Goth bars case you're wondering). This track was slickly packaged and tossed into the middle of the album and it stands out like a sore thumb!

Now before I get thousands of emails saying that it's a great song .... (I only wish thousands read this ... Hey Carl, *DeathHead*.... Martini .... Rockerchick ... thanx for reading!) I do think this is a great song and would even go so far as to say it was my favourite off the album.
I love the dual guitar/clean vocals pre chorus harmonics ... it's fantastic. I just think it doesn't necessarily fit with the whole package.

But speaking of whole package, let me just say WOW! I'll give the band kudos for great album packaging. Not only is there a video for "Cold Black Days" but there is a huge multi-media set-up that gives English translation of the lyrics (the songs and booklet lyrics appear to be written in Atlantean ...?) as well as background information on their research behind the concept. Pretty neat. And you can play the music while reading along about each track. I've gotten through about half the album so far. All in all "Atlantis" is a great album and I can't get enough of the bombastic assault. I highly recommend this one.



Now I've dwelled on how I came into Heavy/extreme metal, and about the fantasy aspect I liked, but I want to review some of the Christian heavy Metal that I've discovered (and wow there is a lot) starting the album that first got me thinking about this genre. Believer's "Dimensions". It all began with a review I read in M.E.A.T. magazine back in highschool...