The Anatomy Of feature has always been about getting under the skin of the bands we admire at Heavy Blog Is Heavy. Listening to the bands that made them pick up their instruments and start pouring out their souls becomes something new in itself. Norway’s Attan don’t sound like any one of the acts they selected – their furious debut LP End of. is a razor-edged hardcore record stuffed full of blackened grind, and more. Their influences ranging from local cult legends and genre goliaths, Attan’s Anatomy Of is one of my favourites yet. Enjoy the wonderfully worded musings on the music of their youth, in particular, the ones you probably hadn’t heard of. I hadn’t before. I’m all the better for having done so now.
Pantera – Far Beyond Driven
Far Beyond Driven was the first step into extreme music for a lot of us in the band, being a Billboard #1 it probably was for a lot of people growing up at the time. Listening back to it now over 20 years later it still is incredibly brutal. Take a song like the opener ”Strength Beyond Strength”. It starts off in a blast of hardcore, before it suddenly turns into the sludgiest thing ever, and still it has a lot of melody and a pitch black aura to it. Being a Pantera fan is not something that has aged well, but the music on Far Beyond Driven cannot be denied. True impact comes from so much more than distortion and blast beats. It’s about the balance between dynamics and a wide array of tools used at the right time. Far Beyond Driven is a perfect example of that balance done well.
Desperado – Desperado
Although most of ATTANs members grew up in the far north of Norway, we also spent quite a few years in Trondheim – a medium sized city (by Norwegian standards) located in midst of the country. At the time they had a really good hardcore scene there and Desperado were one of the best bands in it. The self-titled EP was the first music they ever released, and even though the band grew into something slightly more sophisticated, this one had something special to it. The desperate honesty combined with that high energy ”come what may”-attitude is inspiring to this day. Apparently, it was recorded on a tired old computer with Cubase and some crappy rehearsal mics, and the band were never really satisfied with the outcome. Boy were they wrong!?
The Secret – Solve Et Coagula
From being more of a run of the mill ”riffs with riffs on” type hardcore band, The Secret found their inner demons on this one. The dark mood and dissonance of this record are exhausting, yet extremely fascinating. They were not the first ones to do the blackened hardcore thing, but the way its executed on Solve Et Coagula is just a perfect mix of subgenres. At first listen, the ultra-aggressive darkness of this record swallows you whole. That feeling is certainly one that we chase a lot in ATTAN as well. They have since moved further into darker territory, but the balance they had on this one is yet to be beaten.
Neurosis – A Sun That Never Sets
The entire back catalogue of Neurosis is a huge influence on what we do as a band. The way they approach their art is something all musicians of every genre could learn from. The Sun that Never Sets is so dynamic it’s almost too much as it swings from total darkness to true beauty in a heartbeat. How a record could be this devastatingly heavy yet so beautiful at the same time is a mystery that might never get solved.
Totalt Jävla Mörker – Totalt Jävla Mörker
Totalt Jävla Mörker was one of the Swedish hardcore bands that undeservingly drowned a bit in the shadows of Breach and Refused. With a dual vocal attack in the front, and their political lyrics belted out in Swedish they where as angry as could be. There aren’t many records out there that succeed this well when it comes to pure rage. It’s just gnarly and pissed of and a perfect example of the honesty that’s found in aggression. It may not be smart, sexy, or intelligent, but it’s heartfelt, pure and full of violence and thought-provoking nastiness.