Aural Fixations

ATHEIST
Piece of Time
Unquestionable Presence
Elements
(Relapse)
Along with Cynic and Watchtower, Florida's Atheist pioneered what's now referred to as technical metal, which is essentially death metal with unusually complex arrangements, an extremely high caliber of musicianship and lyrics that transcend the usual clich&eactue;s of war and pain. As Atheist leader Kelly Shaffer notes, think of a cross between Rush, Slayer and Mercyful Fate. The band's records have been out of print for years, but Relapse has rescued them from the abyss, remastering them and adding a slew of demos and live cuts as bonus tracks.

Originally released in 1988, Piece of Time is the most traditional death metal disk in the group's repertoire. Cuts like "Unholy War," "Life" and "On They Slay" (the lyrics of which Shaffer charitably describes as "immature") smear the print on the still-wet death metal boilerplate a bit, but mostly concentrate on the brutal riffs and animalistic growling so characteristic of the genre. That's not to say the tracks are bad, mind you; as straight-up death metal goes, this is some of the best. But only the shape-shifting anthems "Beyond" and "No Truth" (which dives right into the philosophy inherent in the band's name) propel the combo toward its groundbreaking metal destiny. The fact thatrelapsesibly nimble fretwork drives the best tunes also blazes a new trail. This version includes the contents of the band's first demo tapes, which made it a star in the 80s tape-trading underground. The audio fidelity is erratic, but Atheist's vision (including embryonic takes on "Beyond" and "No Truth," plus the crushing unreleased gem "Brain Damage") is fully intact. [buy it]

Though born from the tragedy of Patterson's death in a van accident, 1991's Unquestionable Presence is the album that put Atheist on the map of forward-thinking metal. Drafting four-stringer Tony Choy from Cynic to record tunes written largely around Patterson's finger-busting basslines, the band pulls itself up by its guitar-straps and creates a landmark album of technical death metal. Tunes like "And the Psychic Saw," "The Formative Years" and the title track have more time changes per tune than most full albums, but, incredibly, the band makes them all go down as smooth as a bottleneck across a steel guitar string. Amazingly, Atheist accomplishes this without stretching out its songs into epics—the complex brevity of the eight songs on the original 33 minute album owe as much to the Minutemen as to Rush. The remaster includes a batch of pre-production demos featuring the late Patterson, including instrumental versions of "Retribution" and "Brains" that really show off the musicians' technical prowess. A mix of "Enthralled in Essence" with the guitars and vocals removed, highlighting the rhythm tracks only, shows Patterson to have been the death metal John Entwistle. [buy it]

Following a desultory tour for Unquestionable Presence, Atheist split. Bandleader Shaffer started Neurotica, which continues to this day, but put Atheist back together to fulfill its contract with its European record company. Pulling in Choy and original guitarist Rand Burkey and adding drummer Josh Greenbaum and third guitarist Frank Emmi, Shaffer and the band wrote and recorded Elements in little over a month, crafting lyrics in the studio. Amazingly, not only does the third and final Atheist record hold up despite its motley birth, but it's grown up into what is possibly the band's finest album. New drummer Greenbaum's jazz background and Choy's embrace of Latin rhythms give the songs a lift most metal doesn't have. Choy is in particularly fine form, adding funk technique to his fretwork without ever crossing over into funk metal. Despite the presence of three axemen, the band leaves plenty of empty space in the arrangements; the whole record has a lighter-than-air feel wholly at odds with metal's usual wall-of-crunch aesthetic. "Water," "Air" and the title track whip death, thrash and progressive metal into a challenging, yet still accessible froth. And while Elements is by no means a Brazilian jazz fusion metalfest, the Latin influences do take "Earth" and the piano-driven "Samba Briza" to places most headbangers hadn't gone before. The reissue adds cuts taken from a 1992 radiocast, as the Unquestionable Presence lineup runs heartily through a batch of that album's material. It's a record whose influence metal is still trying to catch up to, and, like its predecessors, it's a fine listen regardless of historical import. Michael Toland [buy it]