Atrocity
Okkult
Okay…how did I first find this band…?
I think it was about a month or two ago I was surfing
around on YouTube (may have been watching Hate videos, who knows…actually, I
think that was it) when I saw an interesting-looking video in the suggestions.
Now, I don’t often randomly click on songs off in YouTube’s suggestions as I’ve
had more bad experiences with doing so than good, and usually when I listen to
Hate, I want to listen to Hate and
nothing else, but this was some random evening where I threw caution to the
wind and said “why the hell not?”
About
three minutes after the enjoyable theatrical intro, I had fallen immediately in
love with Atrocity’s “Pandæmonium” from their new album, Okkult. Prior to “Pandæmonium”, I had never even heard of this
band, so I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Apparently, though, as I
found out, Atrocity can’t seem to settle on a single genre. As it turns out,
they started out as a grindcore band under the name of “Instigator”, then
became a tech death band with Hallucinations
and Todessehnsucht in the early 90’s
with their new name, only to move on through a myriad of styles including
thrash, folk, industrial, and even doing full albums of 80’s pop covers
(strange, right?). On Okkult, they
took a shot at symphonic death metal and did pretty well for themselves.
Upon hearing
the term “symphonic death metal”, someone might think of bands such as
Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Ex Deo. While very far from wrong in
thinking of such acts, their mind will probably not jump right to Atrocity’s Okkult, even if they’re familiar with
the album. It definitely has its very symphonic moments, most notably at the
beginning of “Pandæmonium” and throughout “March
of the Undying”, though this album tends to be a bit half-and-half. Half of the
songs, such as “Death by Metal”, are completely devoid of any symphonic elements,
which make some of them a little less enjoyable than their symphonic
counterparts. It’s a bit of a disappointment, as Atrocity does a very good job
at including symphony in the songs that have it. It gives a little bit of
extra, and somewhat necessary, bombastic and fuller feeling to the music. There
are, however, some songs that are perfectly fine without the epic symphonies.
Songs like “Haunted
by Demons” and “Beyond Perpetual Ice” have no need for the background symphony
featured on other songs, the latter of which is one of the few that focuses
more on attempting to establish a common-day death metal feel to it, while the
former is one of the more anthemic tunes. The more “deathy” songs aren’t
anything too groundbreaking, but are decent on their own. As a whole, the band
may have featured too many different shifts stylistically, what with having
over-the-top symphonies, simple anthems designed for concerts, enjoyable death
metal, and more symphonies, all on one album. It makes it seem as though the
band couldn’t settle on having one idea for the entire album, making it a bit
less cohesive than I personally favor. The songs are good, and the album is
good, but all the different aspects of it make it feel as though it’s more of a
‘best of’ album or something.
Nothing about
these songs is really bad, except for the few times where it sounds Alexander
Krull is trying maybe just a little too hard on the vocals. He sounded tense on
a few occasions, such as at the beginning of “When Empires Fall to Dust”, and
the vocals would have been a bit better if he had just relaxed and redone them,
though this can be easily overlooked, as they improve as the song goes on. The
guitar work, especially in the solos, is also a highlight, especially in “Haunted
by Demons” and “Murder Blood Assassination”, though it wouldn’t have hurt
anyone if the bass had been a bit louder (welcome to death metal?), though it
does have its moments in the spotlight. The drumming is never overpowering or
underwhelming, though those who enjoy more death metal-orientated drums should
maybe start with “Masaya”.
Overall, I’d
give the album about an 8.4/10 (or an 84%), as it was rather enjoyable despite
it somewhat lacking theme. I’d recommend it to anyone who is new to death
metal, especially of the symphonic kind, and enjoys albums with plenty of
variety.
Noteworthy Tracks:
Track One: “Pandæmonium”
Track Four: “Haunted
by Demons”
Track Ten: “When
Empires Fall to Dust”
*If you enjoyed Okkult, also check out Hallucinations
and Todessehnsucht, though you should probably steer clear of most of the rest of Atrocity's discography unless you like goth/industrial metal or 80's pop covers.
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