Atheist - Unquestionable Presence
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Free Music Notes for Unquestionable Presence
Free Music Review: These were the formative years, you wouldn't understand...
Hit: 5 Stars
Since when did 'technical' become a viable term to describe anything other than IT manuals? This is contorted, agile, complex, enthralling death metal with a twist of fusion jazz. 'Unquestionable Presence' realises the ambition of their debut album without neglecting their merciless thrash metal roots.
The mind-blowing musicianship is subservient only to the concise, consistent song writing. Musical prowess is concealed within razor-tight riff changes; a split-second bass fill here, a off-beat drum pattern there. Catchy songs compel the listener to delve further, revealing a treasure trove of hidden secrets. Buy this, then discard your preconceptions of 'technical' music along with any Necrophagist albums that you may have accidentally acquired.
Free Music Review: A Landmark in Technical Death Metal
Hit: 5 Stars
Good lord, I love Atheist, they are truly one of the most unique, amazingly talented, and most influentual and original sounding technical death metal bands on the planet. Being a huge fan of technical death metal and all, I've heard from so many metal fans how amazing this band truly was, I knew at firsthand I had to get into them, and I did just that, and I sure didn't regret it one bit. I became a fan of Atheist over the summer when I bought "Piece of Time", "Unquestionable Presence", and "Elements" at FYE down in Eau Claire. I really had a rough time trying to decide which album to start out with, so I went and bought all three of them, and I was sure glad I did. So afterwards Atheist quickly became one of my all time favorite death metal bands as of right now.
I definately got to say, of all three albums, "Unquestionable Presence" is Atheist's all time best album, and it's also a landmark in technical death metal as well as jazz-fusion death metal. "Unequestionable Presence" is an amazing out of this world techical death metal assault loaded with out of this world techical guitar riffs and dazzling scorching solos, incredible odd time signatures, mindblowing tempo changes, awesome jazzy bass lines and fantastic drumming that can be fast and at other times downright funky as well. The lyrics on here deal with outer space, nature, politics, corruption, and other things like that.
Please keep in mind, that the bass lines here on Unquestionable Presence were all written by Roger Patterson whom I consider to be one of the most incredibly gifted, sickest, and most talented bassists in heavy metal. But on Feburary 12, 1991, fate would strike a cruel blow when Roger died in a tour van accident in Louisiana before the recording sessions for the album even took place. However his replacement on the album, Tony Choy (who was also in fellow Floridian death metallers Cynic) came and did such a fantastic job at nailing Roger's bass lines to absolute perfection. I applaud him for that. Kelly Shaefer's vocals are I would definately say very similar to Kreator and late-period Death. Together Kelly and Rand Burkey dazzle and amaze the listener with their out of this world guitar riffs and wild mindblowing solos. Steve Flynn's drumming on here is dare I say absolutely incredible whose beats can range from pounding fast to downright jazzy and funky.
Every song on Unquestionable Presence is just amazing. The opening track "Mother Man" is a very funky song which starts off with a snappy jazz-oriented bass groove, and has great riffs, a killer solo, and a neat bass-driven instrumetal at the end. The title track starts off with a cool intro which sounds like a windstorm and some mellow chords, and also features some fast drums, catchy headbanging riffs, another great solo, some funky bass lines and a memorable chorus to boot. "Retribution" is another memorable favorite that includes more great solos and some head smacking bass lines that would make Flea or even Les Claypool blush with envy. Track four "Enthralled in Essence" has some catchy riffs, some more great solos, and some nice solid double bass drumming as well. Antother classic track, "An Incarnations Dream" starts off with a nice accoustic number and features some weird time signatures. "The Formative Years" features some more solid fast drumming as well as some catchy aggressive riffing, bass lines, and some more jaw-dropping solos to boot, while track seven "Brains" has some more funky head smacking bass and fantastic drumming. Then we finally have the epic closer "And The Psychic Saw" which includes some powerful headbanging riffs and fast pounding drums as well as some nice tempo changes. As for the bonus tracks, we have some pre-production demos from 1990 featuring Roger Patterson which is definately a nice treat.
Jeremy's song ratings:
Unquestionable Presence album:
1. Mother Man (4:33) - 5/5
2. Unquestionable Presence (4:06) - 5/5
3. Retribution (3:17) - 5/5
4. Enthralled in Essence (3:37) - 5/5
5. An Incarnations Dream (4:52) - 5/5
6. The Formative Years (3:30) - 5/5
7. Brains (3:41) - 5/5
8. And The Psychic Saw (4:49) - 5/5
Pre-Production Demos 8/90 featuring Roger Patterson
9. Enthralled in Essence (3:32) - 5/5
10. The Formative Years (3:29) - 5/5
11. Unquestionable Presence (3:55) - 5/5
12. An Incarnations Dream (4:09) - 5/5
13. Retribution (instrumental) (3:19) - 5/5
14. Brains (instrumental) (3:40) - 5/5
Demo 1990 featuring Roger Patterson
15. Enthralled in Essence (3:44) - 5/5
Drums and Bass Track
16. Mother Man (4:43) - 5/5
Rhythm Track
17. And The Psychic Saw (4:37) - 5/5
I normally don't write long reviews, but since that this album is soooooo good, I thought that it deserved a long well thought out written review. Bottom Line: If you call yourself a fan of prog/technical death metal and you've not experienced the music of Atheist, then you are truly missing out. I'm sure glad I experienced it. Buy this classic album now, heck buy all their albums, I'm glad I did. Later dudes!!
Free Music Review: The Best metal band
Hit: 5 Stars
Atheist is the most amazing metal band. You will never forget their songs after you listen to them.Free Music Review: Brilliant Fusion Metal
Hit: 5 Stars
Atheist were a band like none other. With talent shining through their music, they really made an impact on metal. However, the band's discography has been out of print for quite some time after the band disbanded. But with the help of the legendary Relapse records, we can now witness the talent and brilliance of Atheist again, with extras thrown in!
What you get on this album is the original 8 tracks, which show the band's uniqueness and how they can perfectly fit in technical metal and jazz together. This has been tagged as death metal by fans, but if it is to be compared to any death metal bands, I would say the technical ones like Death and Cynic, and not bands like Cannibal Corpse and Deicide. Still, Atheist is unique in every matter.
Don't miss out on this if you enjoy technical death metal. Even if you're not that much into brutality, you will enjoy it and witness the talent that flows through this band.
Free Music Review: The best Atheist album, one of the best tech metal albums
Hit: 5 Stars
Jazz metal, tech metal, death metal, whatever it is, it's _______ good! This is the best of all three Atheist albums, although Piece Of Time also kicked @$$. Elements... well, I am still not sure about that one.
Piece of Time was mostly standard death metal riffs, but the riffs were far more memorable and catchier than a lot of other tech metal riffs. Unquestionable Presence takes those riffs and rythems and adds plenty of more sophisticated riffs, passages, etc. It's still very death metal, but it's more relaxing. These guys _________ rule at playing instruments, the music will leave any musician impresssed. Best of all, it's not a bunch of show-off guitar solos either, these guys can make a interesting melody as well. It's got a lot of great material, very ________ impressive. Best of all, the vocals aren't the grunting that most people who don't like death metal like to criticize death metal bands for. The vocals are dry and raspy. Atheist are unique in their sound, which is pretty much good. No, ________ good.
I didn't give a ______ about the bonus tracks, but the album itself is worth the money. With the remastering, you would be a fool to overlook this if you say you like tech metal.
10/10