I'm currently spellbound by this one:
It is rather unquestionable that Atheist are the pioneers of technical death metal, and this album for me is the best from them, which I take more superior than their earlier “Piece of Time”. This release has so much to reflect – it is technical, it is brutal, it is thrashy, it is progressive, it is jazzy and it is melodic. This along with Piece… was a revolutionary attempt of transcending the convention of death metal that was being done by almost every death metal band in the late 80s and early 90s who sought brutality and evilness more than anything, and this album was truly a milestone in the genre. Yet, they haven’t aimed to build the songs sound technical and difficult intentionally, like most of the technical groups around these days like Necrophagist, Origin, Beneath the Massacre, etc.
Lots of jazz influences are here, and this was probably the earliest effort in merging these two forms. The whole thirty-two minutes is an assortment of genuinely delightful and chilling riffs. The songs structures are progressive, bass lines are away from the guitar’s trail, and the drums are ever so technical.
There was a time I couldn’t digest this band wholly, because I had only focused on the vocals then. I still don’t think this style is much attractive to me. Vocals-wise Kelly Shaefer’s high pitched screams in “Piece of Time” was more creditable. He had deeper and louder shrieks then, which in this album has changed into something quite odd – screams combined with clean voice and they seemed to have liberated merely from the top of the throat.
Now to the positive side, everything else than the vocals is impressive. The guitar riffs are so awesomely made that it surely drowned me into them. Take the jazzy parts or rather heavier part like the intro of “Enthralled in Essence” (maybe the heaviest in the album), everything done through guitars is very splendid. Even the smallest parts are colored by this beauty. There are many shorter and longer lead solos, like “Mother Man” (3:28), “Enthralled in Essence” (0:07 and 1:42), etc. which are more than magnificent. They’ve added a huge magnitude of feel in these, which has made every moment of this album so enjoyable. How “An Incarnation’s Dream” approaches is also notable – its ambient intro, escorted by another amazing guitar play.
Unquestionable Presence contains some of the best bass plays ever. As I’ve mentioned above, Tony Choy has played his bass far away from the guitar. I mean, at most parts, guitar has followed bass, not vice-versa, and there are lots and lots of bass driven parts, the track “Mother Man” being a good example of this. “The Formative Years” (1:55) has one of the most insane bass segments, alongside Steve Flynn’s crazy drumming.
Flynn is ever so diverse in his beats, always advancing, showing his skills in jazz and extreme metal drumming, and his beats are never repetitive. He keeps on altering his style within few seconds mark even when being under same riff.
Song structures are progressively complex. “Brains” has to be one of the most complex tracks. Throughout the record, it seems like no single riff has been played exactly the same more than once after it ends once. I wished to listen more of the opener riff of “Enthralled in Essence” in later part of the track, but due to the complexity in structure, it didn’t allow me – well, that’s cool anyway.
There is nothing here as my favorite track as every track is made evenly impressive and original, and there are simply so many moments within it to remember. The production is nearly crystal clear, and few ambient ingredients have added more tastes to the songs. Every member has presented his skills brilliantly. Vocals were somewhat not as expected by my interest, but it doesn’t matter unless everything else is exceptionally superb. This is beauty!!!
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