We recently mused on the failures of, and potential remaining hope for, melodic death metal. Briefly, we said that while the genre is on the ropes, there’s still good music to be made within it, either by “owning” the classic tropes of the genre or experimenting with new sounds. That latter approach seems to be what is guiding Atlas Entity, who are getting ready to release their debut full length album, Beneath the Cosmic Silence, on June 14th. As the track we’re premiering today will show you, Atlas Entity, a two man project made up of Alex Gallegos on everything but drums and Samus Paulicelli (Devin Townsend, Decrepit Birth) on drums, spice up their composition with plenty of progressive death metal and atmospheric black metal. The core, like the opening riff, is solidly melodic death but more flairs are added to it as the track (and album) progress.
The end result for “Scorned By the Snow” is a track with plenty of melodramatic moments, channeling that melodic death metal heritage. But the amount of riffs and ideas that are contained with it add a layer of progressiveness which adds something fresh to it, breaking up the monotony that can often possess melodic death metal when it stands alone. The production and overall atmosphere hints at and channels a bit of black metal; something in the timbre of the vocals, the acoustic interludes, and the massiveness of production will speak very strongly to fans of the Pacific Northwest and the kind of black metal they make over there (like Agalloch or Falls of Rauros).
At the bottom line, it’s a really fascinating and enjoyable track to listen to. There’s a lot going on but the accessible and “over the top” parts lend it plenty of momentum and thrust. You can head on over to the project’s Bandcamp page to pre-order the album.