Atrocity

Atlantis (Napalm)
by Eric Chon

One look at the cover was almost all I needed. I knew Atrocity had a long history, and main man Alex Krull married hottie Liv Kristie. But looking at the scantily-clad babe on the cover (complete with cheesy background) beckoning me closer, and reading the title Atlantis filled me with dread. Babe + mythical album title = fucking cheesy power metal. I couldn’t’ve been more wrong.

A quick listen to some of their back catalogue reveals an eclectic and diverse career – sometimes successful, sometimes not, but never forgiving – and Atlantis succeeds as a brutal, vicious platter of death metal bombast. Furious rhythms compete with buzzsaw guitars as Alex Krull’s rampaging vocals batter the senses.

But Atrocity’s varied past rears its head in each song. Alongside the sheer malevolence present in the songs resides melody and tenderness. Perhaps it’s a chorus accompanied by synth-orchestrations (“God of Nations”) or an epic interlude (“Atlantean Empire”). The often-times atonal and hypnotic guitar solos only help bring you to the mythic empire they’re so fervently singing about. There are times where everything gets a little too alien for my tastes, the strange compositions and combinations leaving you behind, and I found myself wondering “Where the hell did that come from?” many times.

Atlantis is a weird and strange metal album that defies categorization. It might be a bit over-the-top for some, and little hard to follow for others, but Atlantis is never boring, and Atrocity has the talent to make it work.
(www.napalmrecords.com)