UNQUESTIONABLE PRESENCE

*This album is really something around 4.5 stars rather than 4.

Who would have thought that death metal and jazz, two genres on opposite ends of the musical spectrum, could be fused together so well? Well, it took a band like Atheist to prove that its possible, and they fused these two genres very well. The first track, Mother Man, is a great way to start the album, and the riffs and time signatures thrown all over the place are crazy. Another cool thing about this album is the fairly strong presence of melody, something rarely used in a genre like death metal, and tracks like An Incarnation's Dream show off their melodic side a bit as do some other tracks. To me, there are no real negative things I can say about this album. The album is entertaining, complex, technical, and will keep you interested for its entire length. The vocals are a bit weird, but its much better than most death metal vocalists, who sound like they're trying to imitate a gorilla. Other than the minor vocalist complaint, this album is amazing. I recommend any prog fan this album. You don't even have to be a death metal fan to like this (look at me, I hate the majority of death metal with a passion). This album is a prog must, to say the least...