Tag Archive: Atheist

Pestilence – Doctrine

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.26, 2011

Pestilence

Doctrine

01. The Predication (Intro)
02. Amgod
03. Doctrine
04. Salvation
05. Dissolve
06. Absolution
07. Sinister
08. Divinity
09. Deception
10. Malignant
11. Confusion

[4/24/11]
[Mascot]

Pestilence were once among the giants in the early death metal scene. The release of their albums Malleus Maleficarum and Consuming Impulse shaped the sound of death metal as we know it. These two albums featured the legendary god of the growl, Martin Van Drunen on vocals. But, bands change. Pestilence soon became much more of a progressive outfit influenced by Cynic, where bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling now of Obscura fame got his start on the album Spheres back in in ’93 after the release of Testimony of the Ancients (which featured Tony Choy on bass!). They soon broke up, and reformed in 2008 to release Resurrection Macabre. Soon after Resurrection Macabre we have this, the new album Doctrine.

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Tags: Atheist, Cynic, Doctrine, Obscura, Pestilence

Obscure Gems: Disembarkation – Rancorous Observision

Filed Under: Obscure Gems

Mar.28, 2011

Disembarkation – Rancorous Observision

Do you like heavily jazz-influenced old-school technical death metal? I’m talking Atheist, Pestilence and the likes. If so, you probably know how hard it is to find bands that make similar music, let alone do it well. Hey, it’s all good; you have me to save you. Disembarkation are technical death/jazz fusion band from, you guessed it, Quebec, Canada. There’s all you want here: an old-school production that is very calm and lets the instruments breathe, the bass is as audible as anything else in the mix and plays its own role, and the vocals are just the right texture, somewhere between Atheist and Martyr I guess. If you’re not already drooling right now, this one probably isn’t for you. But if you are, just jump in already. This is good.

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Tags: Atheist, Cryptopsy, dead to fall, death, Disembarkation, In The Mouth of Madness, martyr, Obscura, Pestilence, Rancorous Observision

Obscura – Omnivium

Filed Under: Reviews

Mar.23, 2011

Obscura

Omnivium

01. Septuagint
02. Vortex Omnivium
03. Ocean Gateways
04. Euclidean Elements
05. Prismal Dawn
06. Celestial Spheres
07. Velocity
08. A Transcendental Serenade
09. Aevum

[03/29/11]
[Relapse]

This is it. The album that all progressive/technical/whatever death metal fans have been waiting for. They are, in my opinion, one of the most important bands in death metal right now. Most bands of their ilk either try to be as old school as possible and end up with a dated sound, or they try to be extremely modern which just sounds manufactured and unnatural. Looking at it from another angle, most bands either try to simplify their sound and end up being boring, or they try to go over the top and you can just feel that they’re trying too hard. Obscura are none of these; their sound is the future of death metal, because they acknowledge the old greats while innovating, and they are very intricate and complicated whilst at the same time comprehensible and not ridiculously flamboyant. I dare say that Omnivium is the perfection of their sound. But what does that mean?

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Tags: Atheist, Cynic, death, gorod, Morbid Angel, Necrophagist, Obscura, Ron Jarzombek

Atheist – Mother Man [Prog Metal March: March 21st]

Filed Under: Prog-Metal March

Mar.21, 2011

I had always heard about Atheist, but never actually listened to them. One day, at a record store, I stumbled upon the reissue of 1991′s Unquestionable Presence. I decided to take the leap and check it out. When I got home and popped the CD into my player, I knew I was in for a treat the moment the first note hit me. I’m sharing the song so you can also feel what it is like, if you haven’t heard Atheist before—Jazz-fusion technical death metal at its finest.

- N

Tags: Atheist

Helveticore: Prog Metal March Edition

Filed Under: Helveticore, Prog-Metal March

Mar.11, 2011

Consensus around here is that it is prog metal March. I checked the calendar and it is indeed March, so I’ve decided to weigh in by compiling a list of the biggest cliches in prog album art design. Intensive research went into polling the 900 songs in my iTunes library with a genre label containing the word ‘progressive’. While these visual elements can be considered cliche because of how often they are used, I think that the quality of (most of) the artwork is still high. If anything, it’s a testament to how the same elements can be used multiple times and still look relatively fresh. The list is a in descending order of how often I think each cliche element is used.

5. Mathy things, equations, visual representation of mathematical concepts

Covers appearing from left to right are (1) Scale The Summit - The Collective, (2) Mouth of the Architect - Time & Withering (3) The Human Abstract - Nocturne

I don’t have a lot of examples of this, but I’m absolutely positive that more math inspired covers exist. The new Scale the Summit artwork is probably the most glaring example, it depicts a pattern most commonly associated with sunflower seeds and other flowers, as well as types of broccoli, cauliflower and other natural things. The pattern is a visual representation of the Fibonacci sequence and the golden mean. It is composed of two opposite spirals superimposed on top of each other. I was reading an interesting article about the occurrence of this in nature, but I can’t find it again, so if you would like further reading try here or here. The Mouth of the Architect cover is essentially the same pattern.

The cover for Nocturne has some Da Vinci-esque sketches on it and from what I understand, that dude was pretty mathematically inclined. I know, weak example, but it’s the best I could do on short notice.

I know there has to be more math-inspired covers out there but I’m drawing a blank as to what and where they are. It’s kind of a bummer, because I love art inspired by math and data visualization work in general. If anyone has any suggestions of album art or design work inspired by mathematical concepts I would love to check it out.

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Emmure – Speaker of the Dead

Filed Under: Reviews

Feb.16, 2011

Emmure

Speaker of the Dead

01. Children of Cybertron
02. Area 64-66
03. Dogs Get Put Down
04. Demons With Ryu
05. Solar Flare Homicide
06. Eulogy of Giants
07. Bohemian Grave
08. 4 Poisons 3 Words
09. Cries of Credo
10. Last Words To Rose
11. A Voice From Below
12. Drug Dealer Friend
13. My Name Is Thanos
14. Lights Bring Salvation
15. Word of Intulo

[02/15/11]
[Victory Records]

By now Emmure should automatically trigger something in your brain. Whether it’s a psychological defense mechanism that makes Korn sound as good as Atheist or just pure, unbridled rage and anger, there should be some sort of kneejerk reaction to this six letter travesty. If, however, this does not happen simply because you don’t know who they are, then let me explain. Imagine the most uncreative, derivative musicianship that revolves around chugging and notoriously generic breakdowns. Then add a minute amount of vocal talent that gets wasted by horrible “talking” passages and you have Emmure

So, Speaker of the Dead, Emmure’s 4th album. Four albums usually means you have a pretty decent career and are worthy of resigning and making albums, but keep in mind this is their fourth album in a 5 year timespan. Yes, in a world where the standard is every other year, Emmure have vomited a whopping four albums since 2007. Its gotten to the point that records to Emmure is like babies to whores. Fathoming how they make so many albums is nigh impossible because they’re certainly “worthy” enough for Victory Records to be their label and there is certainly a “demand” to see them live. Then again, you probably only need a week or two to write the material. All this aside, there is good news! Speaker of the Dead is…

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Tags: Atheist, Britney Spears, Emmure, Korn, Limewax

Atheist To Tour North America With Last Chance To Reason, Revocation, and A Life Once Lost

Filed Under: Tours and Rumors of Tours

Feb.02, 2011

They’re only playing all of seven dates, but Atheist don’t tour around these parts as frequently as most of us would hope. Take this into consideration if you’re one of the lucky ones with the opportunity to catch this show. I’m pretty stoked that they’re bringing along Last Chance To Reason as well, who have a highly anticipated album Level 2 coming out this year. Prog-Metal March gets proggier once again!

Here are the dates:

March 4 Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven
March 5 Pomona, CA @ Fox Theater / Scion Rock Fest
March 7 Toronto, ON @ Wreck Room
March 8 Montreal, QC @ Le Petit campus
March 9 New York, NY @ Santo’s Party House
March 10 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
March 12 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade

Anyone out there lucky enough to be able to make it?

- JR

Tags: A Life Once Lost, Atheist, Last Chance To Reason, Revocation

Scion Rock Fest News Abound!

Filed Under: General News

Jan.12, 2011

The PRP have been busy reporting news about the upcoming Scion Rock Fest, and like the musical vulture that I am (think The Beatles’ cameo in The Jungle Book, only less Mancunian and more distortion) I’ve compiled what I can find here for you in one bite-sized place – so if we’re carrying on the vulture analogy it’s about proportionate to some kind of small rodent. Yummy.

LA Weekly has confirmed the Fox Theater and the Glasshouse in Pomona, CA as the simultaneous venues for the event, which will take place on 5th March, which is a Saturday! Hurrah!

The line-up is only rumoured at the moment, but there are some serious gems if they’re true. We’ve got the likes of:

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Tags: Agalloch, Atheist, Fuck the Facts, Kvelertak, Morbid Angel, NAILS, Scion Rock Fest 2011, Wormrot

Atheist – Jupiter

Filed Under: Reviews

Nov.01, 2010

Atheist

Jupter

01. Second to Sun
02. Fictitious Glide
03. Fraudulent Cloth
04. Live, and Live Again
05. Faux King Christ
06. Tortoise the Titan
07. When the Beast
08. Third Person

[11/09/10 | Season of Mist]

Atheist, at this point, are no doubt legendary status. Born out of the 80′s Florida death metal scene alongside bands like Cynic and Death, Atheist went on to be a major influence for a whole generation of prog and death metallers. Just as Cynic did with 2008′s Traced In Air, Atheist put an end to their inactivity and wrote an album. Does Shaefer and Co still have what it takes to release an album on par with their old material and successfully introduce their style of progressive death to a new generation of metal listeners?

Most certainly. It’s been seventeen years since Elements was released in 1993. When listening to Jupiter, it’s like that gap in time never happened. If it weren’t for some modernized production and a showing of age in Shaefer’s voice, you’d think it was 1995. Well… almost, anyway.

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Tags: Atheist, Chad Gray, Cynic, Kelly Shaefer, Mudvayne

New Atheist Song Makes A Believer Out Of Me

Filed Under: Audio, New music, Upcoming releases

Oct.08, 2010

Unfortunately, I have yet to hear the new, long awaited Atheist album Jupiter. I’m lucky enough to be in a position where I get to hear new music before it comes out for review because of Heavy Blog, and most of the labels are on board except for Season of Mist, label to Heavy Blog favorites such as The Dillinger Escape Plan, Cynic, and Atheist. I tried to remedy this situation by sending my greetings to Season of Mist, but after being directed to North American PR through the friendly French crew, no dice. That sucks, because judging by this new Atheist song, “Second to Sun,” the album would have been greeted with a positive review!

“Second to Sun” is streaming over at Atheist’s website, and I certainly dig it. It’s got enough prog to make me happy, that’s for sure. My man Grover at The Number Of The Blog thought the album was good too, so I’m looking forward to it!

Jupiter is out November 8th on Season of Mist.

- JR

Tags: Atheist, Cynic, Season Of Mist, The Dillinger Escape Plan