UNQUESTIONABLE PRESENCE

Atheist is an unique band, blending elements of jazz and death metal into one. Their second album, Unquestionable Presence, if often seen as their masterpiece. I'm not sure where those thoughts come from though, as I don't hear much more than a good album in it.

Don't get me wrong here. Unquestionable Presence is a very innovative and interesting album, featuring some great pieces of music. The album opener, "Mother Man", for example is one of those tracks. A lovely rythm section underneath a layer of crunchy guitars and Kelly Shaefer's aggresive vocal style. Another great song is the aggresive "Enthralled In Essence", being a very heavy and complicated piece of music. Also very notable is "An Incarnation's Dream". The song opens with a wonderful gentle intro, before exploding into a heavy beast. I find these the best tracks on the album, and though there are no really bad tracks on the album I think the other's are much less interesting.

So though the album has no music on it that I dislike, I feel that the album has too few moments that are more than just good. Therefore I rate the album three stars, though I think that the combination of melodic jazz and crushing metal could have been a far more successful one.