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ATHEIST

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal • United States


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Atheist picture
Atheist biography
Founded in Sarasota, Florida, USA in 1987 (as Oblivion since 1984) - Disbanded in 1994 - Reformed in 2006

ATHEIST plays an extremely complex death-jazz. ATHEIST was founded in 1984 by vocalist/guitarist Kelly Shaefer and drummer Steve Flynn, later recruiting Roger Patterson and Mark Sczawtsberg. ATHEIST progressed into an extremely complex fusion death metal band. A few lineup changes later, "Piece of Time" was released, and they started to tour, where Roger Patterson was killed in a car crash. Cynic bassist Tony Choy filled in to create the "Unquestionable Presence" album, which was their pinnacle. Shaefer went on to form Neurotica, but the album "Elements" appeared later out of contract. The band has then split up. ATHEIST can be compared to the complexity of DEATH and CYNIC, playing a highly inventive fusion oriented, breakneck speed metal.

"Unquestionable Presence" is arguably the band's best album and a landmark in progressive metal and the Florida prog-metal scene.

Any fans of complex music, fast playing, and extreme metal should love ATHEIST.
Legendary prog-metal band, incredible chops and fusion-oriented playing.

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ATHEIST discography


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ATHEIST top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.77 | 167 ratings
Piece Of Time
1990
4.21 | 381 ratings
Unquestionable Presence
1991
4.16 | 308 ratings
Elements
1993
3.36 | 124 ratings
Jupiter
2010

ATHEIST Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.53 | 13 ratings
Unquestionable Presence: Live At Wacken
2009

ATHEIST Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

ATHEIST Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

5.00 | 4 ratings
Atheist - The Collection
2005
5.00 | 3 ratings
The Best of Atheist
2017
3.67 | 3 ratings
Original Album Collection
2018

ATHEIST Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

3.00 | 1 ratings
Hell Hath No Mercy
1987
3.02 | 9 ratings
Beyond
1988
3.04 | 7 ratings
Second to Sun
2010

ATHEIST Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Hell Hath No Mercy by ATHEIST album cover Singles/EPs/Fan Club/Promo, 1987
3.00 | 1 ratings

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Hell Hath No Mercy
Atheist Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by UMUR
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

— First review of this album —
3 stars "Hell Hath No Mercy" is the first demo recording by US, Florida based technical death/thrash metal act Atheist, released in November 1987 after the band changed their name from R.A.V.A.G.E. earlier that year. They had already recorded and released two demos under the R.A.V.A.G.E. monicker so "Hell Hath No Mercy" is effectively the bandīs third demo release. Lead guitarist Mark Schwartzbergīs tenure with the band was short and he only appeared on R.A.V.A.G.E.īs "On We Slay" demo from early 1987. On "Hell Hath No Mercy" the band is down to a trio again as future Atheist lead guitarist Rand Burkey didnīt join until the material featured on this demo was recorded.

The demo features three tracks and a total playing time of 9:56 minutes. Although "Hell Hath No Mercy" doesnīt appear on Atheistīs debut full-length studio album "Piece of Time" (Active Records, May 1990), it actually does...but the lyrics have been changed on the subsequent studio version and it was re-titled "Why Bother?". As both "Beyond" and "On They Slay" were also re-recorded and included on "Piece of Time", you wonīt find any forgotten demo gems on "Hell Hath No Mercy", but what you do get is early, raw, and unpolished versions of three of the songs, which would subsequently appear on "Piece of Time".

Stylistically this is a continuation of the technical death/thrash metal style and sound of the 1987 "On We Slay" demo, but the band have obviously grown and have become even better musicians since the last demo. The sound quality is pretty good, considering that this is a late 1987 extreme metal demo, and upon conclusion itīs no wonder that R.A.V.A.G.E./Atheist are considered one of the seminal proto-death metal artists on the Florida music scene along with artists like Mantas/Death, Massacre, Morbid Angel, Executioner (later Xecutioner and even later Obituary), and Hellwitch. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

 Unquestionable Presence by ATHEIST album cover Studio Album, 1991
4.21 | 381 ratings

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Unquestionable Presence
Atheist Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by dougmcauliffe

5 stars For the last few months i've been on somewhat of a technical death metal discovery kick. While Death quickly perfected the formula on their classic album "Human," a couple months prior, Atheist dropped this short and sweet goliath of a record: Unquestionable Presence. The instrumentals throughout are incredibly balls to the wall and constantly firing on all cylinders with schizophrenic change ups around every twist and turn. While bands like Dream Theater and Fates Warning tend to get the brunt of the credit for kicking off prog metal in the early 90s, I think Atheist and related groups such as Death, Pestilence, Cynic and a little more distantly Voivod, are the real unsung trailblazers of the genre in many ways. Throughout this 1991 release, there's a constant barrage of mazy riffage, a plethora of odd times, even genre fusion with elements of jazz fusion scattered about. They immediately proclaim everything they're about loud and clear within the first seconds of the opening track "Mother Man." The band launches off into orbit with the rhythm section going haywire almost instantly nicely leading the rest of the band in. There's a very mesmerizing quality to this song as they hop from riff to riff subtly building up some smart and creative segues between them before they pull off these complete 180s. But through all these changes, the band never trips over themselves and they maintain this extremely high momentum throughout. At the 3:20 mark, it kicks into this sick jazzy passage with some really memorable busy bass playing while a guitar drops a pretty atmospheric solo on top of it. In general, it's in the last minute of this song where it really hits it's peak as following this ear catching contrasting softer passage, it hops right back into what I'd consider the best riffing in the song. This review is gonna be a little tougher for me, and that's because I really like to go into detail with the songs and how they progress, build ups and payoffs. But that sort of approach for an album like this isn't very feasible. At the time of it's release it was some of the most extreme music ever seen, pushing song structures and instrumentals to their limit and it's just not easy to really break these songs down even today. Rather, I just immerse myself in the album and despite having dozens and dozens of listens of this thing, it's like i'm hearing a new album with every listen as the amount of music condensed into a mere 32 minutes is just absurd.

The thrashy title track is up next proceeding straight out of Mother Man with an brief but awesome introduction. Following this it drops into the super aggressive headbanging main riff. I have to give a nod to the vocals, the delivery and general tone of them is very unique and many of the deliveries are even pretty catchy. Like the other instruments, the vocals properly play off of whatever the rest of the band is doing and you can tell everyone is on the same wavelength here. The main "hook" on this track in particular is super filthy. The next track opens with it's title "YOUR LIFES RETRIBUTION!" It's another superbly aggressive track with some of the most developed and explosive guitar playing across the whole record. At 2:37 the vocalist drops a nasty guttural growl before the guitar rips one of the most obscenely cool riffs I think I've ever heard. I especially love when they throw a little bit of a fusiony spin on it after a few repeats. Enthralled in Essence follows this up with its chugging intro, the main guitar melody that follows has a bit of a middle eastern harmonic minor sound to it. At 1:28 there's this incredibly groovy little instrumental breakdown with some very punchy and upfront bass taking the lead. It's a very uncomfortable feeling riff, and because of that when it goes back into 4/4 with a jazzier spin on it it's incredibly satisfying. An Incarnations Dream is one of my favorites on the record opening with some arpeggiated clean guitar accompanied by a subtle and beautifully atmospheric guitar lead on top of it. The heavy guitars come through after a bit and every single riff and rhythm in this song is just 100% dialed in and fully on the mark. However, it's the passage of music starting at 2:16 that puts a big stupid grin on my face every time with just how ridiculously astounding it is. You got this moving drum part with groovy triplets along with this thumping bass riff, but it's the guitar solo that comes through that ends up being the chefs kiss.

The Formative Years is one of the shorter songs but regardless of this, it packs on of the most dense and windy instrumental sections of the record in the middle with almost a little bit of a sci-fi feel in parts. Every member is given a chance to show off their chops and go absolutely haywire and believe me, they do. This is another track where the prominent bass really comes through holding everything together. Brains is just another excellent track on all fronts and I could echo many of my praises of previous songs for it. For me, it's all about the passage at 2:02. The transition out of the much faster riff back into bass heavy groove land is so sweet. We're now on the final track "And The Psychic Saw," it's another one of my favorites on the album closing things off on a really high note. It almost feels like an amalgamation of everything that was cool about all the previous songs into this one track. At 1:30 it brings you into one of the most avant-garde instrumentals on the whole record and somehow, the band is able to quickly string it all back together and come out of this absolute chaos like nothing happened. A mere 20 seconds later another peak hits while the guitars play this dissonant almost King Crimson-esque riff before it releases into yet another incredible shuffling drum groove. The bands sound feels so big and grand-scale at this point. In the final 30 seconds of this song the band finishes things off with a glorious doomy finish leaving me feeling completely satisfied with everything I just experienced. This album is an absolute top shelf metal release. It's incredibly progressive, it's extremely well produced, the execution is pretty earth shattering and there's not a low- point or anything resembling a dud in sight. Atheist simply maxed out their stats on this one, this is a perfect album.

5 Stars

 Unquestionable Presence by ATHEIST album cover Studio Album, 1991
4.21 | 381 ratings

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Unquestionable Presence
Atheist Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by friso
Prog Reviewer

4 stars In the early progressive metal Metallica was successful in presenting its riffs with a certain breathing space and a good place to really make them stand out. Take for instance in the title piece of 'Justice For All'. In progressive death metal this idea of the hyper organised compositions was dropped. All good ideas are then to be thrown after one each other in a rapid succession, always catching the listener off guard. Highly energetic, fast in pace and raw in execution. An impressive mindset in its own right, but different. There are some basic song-structures, but on this Atheist album none of the songs sound very finished or refined. Which is by the way the main difference in quality with the slightly more organised progressive death metal releases of the band Death, who would release 'Human' in the same year (1991). At my first impression I was a bit influenced by another reviewer who called it 'muppets metal', probably because of the extremely fast and over the top performance of Atheist here. The insanely fast solo's, short-lived heavy riffs, complex jazz arrangements and heavy vocals are really quite something. After some more spins this type of extreme metal started to sound more natural to me and I began to get a feel of 'how it worked'. I can now safely say that I really like this album and raw musical creativity it transfers to the listener. Compared to my favorite progressive death metal album (Death's 'Symbolic') it lacks some hooks and effective song-writing, but it does excel in fusion-type bass-lines and that bizar mixture of brilliant musicianship and rather silly teenage anger. Fans of Pestilence should also take notice here.
 Unquestionable Presence by ATHEIST album cover Studio Album, 1991
4.21 | 381 ratings

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Unquestionable Presence
Atheist Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by progtime1234567

4 stars I made a huge list of essential albums that I got off this website. I overlooked this album along with a couple of other ones I also overlooked. I approached this album with a progressive mindset rather than a death metal one, mainly because it isn't cliche like other death metal albums I have heard. The drumming is more jazz influenced than extreme metal influenced. The vocals are not ugly and guttural like other death metal vocals. The bass uses slapping and popping techniques along with high register notes. Finally, the guitars are not distorted to the point of not being melodic anymore. Unquestionable presence is similar sounding to Focus by Cynic, but not too similar. This album is a treat to listen to and I give it a listen every once in a while. Tony Choy's bass lines on this album are incredible, along with his playing and techniques. If you want a great sounding progressive metal album with lots of jazz influence, then this is for you. If you want to explore the heavier and more jazzy side of prog rock, then try out this album.
 Unquestionable Presence by ATHEIST album cover Studio Album, 1991
4.21 | 381 ratings

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Unquestionable Presence
Atheist Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by The Crow
Prog Reviewer

3 stars Second Atheist effort and a true classic of the tech-extreme metal subgenre!

The band repeated with the producer Scott Burns to travel further into their fusion between the death metal of the 90's with jazz elements, avant-garde and progressive metal, all that played at an incredible speed and with an outstanding technique.

Nevertheless, though I admire the expertise of these musicians with their respective instruments, I find this album a bit dry and repetitive in the long term. It's much more evolved that Piece of Time, which was more straightforward death metal despite having also tons of fusion elements, but it's not catchy enough for me to resist a regular listen out.

Maybe it is because all the songs sound very similar despite their thousand changes and different rhythms, or maybe the boring vocals, but Unquestionable Presence is just not my cup of tea.

Best Tracks: Unquestionable Presence (incredible syncopated bass), Enthralled in Essence (very good initial guitar melody and great guitar solos) and And the Psychic Saw (the most progressive and positive song of the album)

Conclusion: it's obvious that this album is a technical wonder and it contains an incredible interpretation from every member of the band, especially Choy and Fynn in bass and drums respectively, but in my opinion it lacks something to be really catchy and thrilling.

Nevertheless, Unquestionable Presence is interesting enough to make me want to hear the posterior Elements and the much more recent Jupiter.

My rating: ***

 Elements by ATHEIST album cover Studio Album, 1993
4.16 | 308 ratings

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Elements
Atheist Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by BrufordFreak
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars What?! A jazzier, moodier, more BLACK SABBATH- and TOOL-like version of Atheist? (I know the Tool reference is unfair as this band predates Maynard's breakthrough. But the music has at times a strikingly similar sound to it.) I happen to like the production of this album less than its predecessor, "Unquestionable Presence," but appreciate the growth that the instrumentalists have done in terms of diversifying/broadening their stylistic influences and sonic choices. Though the bass and drums maintain their prominent places in the sonic mix (though neither of these newcomers, Choy and Greenbaum, impress in the way that their predecessors did), the voices and high end sounds just feel murkier (especially when you listen to "UP" before or along side "Elements." The new, Latin-ized Atheist is indeed interesting but I think the previous version of the band was more impressive.

Favorite songs: the proggiest ones, which happen to be the final three, "Earth," "See You Again," and "Elements."

Still, this is without a doubt a solid four star album, just not on the same par as their previous (albeit short) album.

 Unquestionable Presence by ATHEIST album cover Studio Album, 1991
4.21 | 381 ratings

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Unquestionable Presence
Atheist Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by BrufordFreak
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Funk Bass! Sustained power chords (a la RUSH). Growl/scream vocals that can be understood! Where Unquestionable Presence fails for me is in its homogeneity: one song seems to seamlessly bleed into the next with little or too little change in sound, pace and style. Songs 2 & 3 seem to be the same song (though songs 5. "An Incarnation's Dream," 7. "Brains," and 8. "And the Psychic Saw" feel like pure death metal updates of THIN LIZZY songs). Plus, with a length of only 30 minutes, this can hardly be considered a complete album.

For me what makes this album and band stand out is the clear presence and outstanding musicianship of the bass player. The drummer is also quite impressive. He is very quick and possesses uncanny precision, and is not prone to over-fill or overdo.

Favorite song: the intro of the BLACK SABBATH-like 6. "The Formative Years" (8.5/10)

Four stars. It might not be your cup of tea but the instrumentalists alone make it worth checking out.

 The Best of Atheist by ATHEIST album cover Boxset/Compilation, 2017
5.00 | 3 ratings

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The Best of Atheist
Atheist Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by aglasshouse

5 stars Ever wanted to own a major chunk of Atheist's discography without needing to purchase 2005's The Collection for upwards of $60? Fear not, a solution is here!

After seven long years following Atheist's last studio album Jupiter, the band finally decided to digitally release their first ever compilation album to date- and what a compilation it is! In true-to-form fashion Atheist grab the most sonically insane and cosmic songs from their studio albums (as well as a live version of 'Mother Man' from Live At Wacken 2009) in a massive 22-track corpus. Forthright this puts The Best Of leagues ahead of other death metal contemporaries' works like Death's Best Of in '92 or Nile's Legacy of the Catacombs in '07, granted both rather good releases, simply from the vastness of the song selection. Especially considering Atheist's relatively small discography, 90 minutes of pure action may seem a bit hefty at first, but for only $10 (roughly ?8.50 for you Europeans) from Bandcamp it is a fairly free-and-easy deal compared to another compilation that would front you the same price but with half the content.

This album is a perfect introductory release for beginners and also a good pickup for familiars. The only gripes I have with it are the fact that there's no physical release, because I prefer lending actual tangible material to a hypothetical beginner depending on the circumstances, and the fact that my favorite song 'Why Bother?' from Piece of Time is not present. Maybe they took the title a bit too literally?

 Piece Of Time by ATHEIST album cover Studio Album, 1990
3.77 | 167 ratings

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Piece Of Time
Atheist Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by aglasshouse

5 stars Musical intuition and technical prowess catapulted Florida's Atheist into cult status shortly before the 1980's, a decade which was perhaps the most prolific for housing the best metal bands of all time, came to an end. It's not hard to see how Atheist achieved a following so quickly, as the band's influence from both thrash metal and elaborate jazz fusion were quick to differentiate them from their peers.

However with a band with such high quality there comes heavy scrutiny. It's, for the most part, a consensus that out of Atheist's current four releases not a single "failure" exists, but a general hierarchy is constructed for the lot nonetheless. Of this totem, Atheist's 1989 debut is generally thought of as being at the bottom. Not only was Piece of Time a preceding to the band's often-thought-of masterpiece Unquestionable Presence in 1991, but it's often cast aside as the least creative and most sophomoric of Atheist's discography.

I guess I feel that, with this particular album, something should be understood- factoring in more complexity does not always equal a better output. What I believe to be the folly of many metal bands (and tech death bands especially) is their inability to put themselves within boundaries, directly distancing themselves so far from a familiar structure that they alienate themselves from the listener, and just become not fun to listen to. Some jazz fusion bands of the 70's experienced this, and sometimes Atheist does too. Just not on this record.

In a world where the barbarism of death metal and the maturity of jazz fusion is blurred, a world which Atheist creates, it is quite hard not to step over this line. The lack of this overstepping though is what makes Piece of Time the overall best album that they've recorded, or at least on par with following work. Anything but lowest on the totem.

Piece of Time is filled with elements of what Atheist would go on to do, albeit with a much more juvenile and rowdy attitude. Each element of Atheist's sound is a multi-layered shell, with each peeling away to reveal another hidden complexity. The fusion of influences the band takes in gives way to duplicitously intricate time signatures, aided by the zealous syncopation of Steve Flynn's constantly morphing drumming. The album can slip at the speed of light from a crunching thrash-gallop easily to a grueling groove (see 'Why Bother?), as the band seems to act as a singular metal entity that can shift and change it's direction at will...all without sacrificing individuality. I for one believe that is an inexorably great feat that not many other bands have managed to replicate. This is without mentioning the inclusion of the sheer speed of each member, especially the insane pluck-age of late bassist Roger Patterson (see 'Unholy War') and guitarist Rand Burkey (best when combined with frontman Kelly Shaefer's guitar), adhering particularly well to the album's overall quality. Some particularly good tracks on here include "Room With a View', 'On They Slay' and 'Why Bother?'- all of which are prime examples of the aforementioned attributes Piece of Time has.

A masterful debut from a masterful group.

 Unquestionable Presence by ATHEIST album cover Studio Album, 1991
4.21 | 381 ratings

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Unquestionable Presence
Atheist Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic

5 stars And then in 1991 one of the landmark tech death metal albums in history was unleashed onto an unsuspecting public. ATHEIST was already a veritable metal act even with their demos and released a gem of a slightly tech death album with "Piece Of Time" with extremely high achievements in both the speed and songwriting department. One of the stars of the show was undoubtedly Roger Patterson whose virtuosic bass playing skills shot the band into a realm above and beyond what anyone else was producing at the time. It was a huge loss when Patterson was killed in a car accident in the midst of recording the second album UNQUESTIONABLE PRESENCE. Any lesser band may have called it a day with such a stress factor suddenly rearing its ugly head but ATHEIST had the tenacity of a post-nuclear holocaust cockroach and stuck to their guns and recruited Cuban bassist Tony Choy to replace the seemingly irreplaceable.

While ATHEIST was already in the midst of upping the technical aspects of their highly aggressive death metal, it was, in a way, fortuitous to land Choy as a bassist, for he found a home with his slap and pop and two-handed tapping playing techniques that allowed him to fully exploit what all those frets are capable of. Because of Choy's involvement not only did they get a more than capable bassist to fill Patterson's shoes, but they got a whole other culture of influences including the Latin rhythms to battle it out with the jazz-tinged time signatures. Because many of the tracks were written with Patterson, this album has the distinct attribute of having one bassist active in the creative birth pangs of the album while another picks it up and adds his different interpretations. The result is one of the most demanding and outstanding tech death metal albums to ever come out.

While the complexity of this album is undeniable, so is the accessibility. The seamlessness of it is the brilliance. It has enough to hook you in instantly but more than enough to continue to lure you deeper and deeper into its seductive grasps. Kelly Shaefer really grows as a vocalist and the dual guitar assaults that he and Randy Burkey pummel the senses leave the progressive headbanger in a steady state of bliss. Each track is diverse and takes the listener on a roller coaster ride of tech death aggressive fury that only ratchets up the luxuriation on subsequent spins. This is one of those growers. It didn't blow me away on first listen by any means but certain has since. The perfect marriage of progressive jazz-fusion and the most extreme metal can be found on UNQUESTIONABLE PRESENCE, one of my all time favorite albums of any musical genre.

Thanks to Retrovertigo for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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