[REVIEW (Sort of)] Atheist - Unquestionable Presence

NOTE: This isn't exactly a review of the album - just a rant about finally getting my copy of this long-out-of-print-recently-reissued-masterpiece-of-fucking-greatness. Written May of 2006.



I first heard Atheist's "Unquestionable Presence" in 1995 on extremely shitty RealAudio clips and ever since that moment I've coveted this album for my own collection. Sadly, by the time I was in the market for it, it was out of print and copies on Ebay were going for a ludicrous amount. Later on with the advent of .mp3 technology I was able to procure this masterpiece for my own, but it's just not the same as having the real thing in your hands. The cover art, the lyrics, the liner notes; to me these are all things that go along with the music - call me old school, but I could never be happy with just the mp3s of an album this amazing.

So who is Atheist? Well, the short description would be "Death-Jazz Metal", which is pretty goddamned accurate. Back in the late 80s, they were major players in the Florida Death Metal "scene" which included legends such as Morbid Angel, Death, Malevolent Creation, Deicide, and others. While most bands at that time were focused solely on outdoing one another at being "heavy" and "evil", Atheist took a path of virtuosity and technicality that only Morbid Angel could have matched. Fusing jazz-inspired progressive insanity with the brutality of death metal and a heavy dose of good old fashioned metal riffing, Atheist became legendary in a very short period of time. Though their legacy only spanned 3 albums, they influenced an entire generation of technical metal bands who to this day have yet to match what was accomplished on "Unquestionable Presence" or their debut "Piece of Time".

Anyway, in 2005 Relapse Records announced they were to reissue all 3 classic Atheist albums and I finally got my fucking copy of "Unquestionable Presence" in the mail today! I don't keep up with new releases like I used to, mostly because there's nothing "new" that really interests me anymore, so when last week I remembered about the re-issues I decided to look online and now that it's finally in my hands it's like a small dream is fulfilled.

Not only does this CD contain the album, but it's packed with a shitload of demos which are fucking killer to finally hear and will be studied by serious fans of band for years to come, I'm sure. I can't believe how well this sounds for a 1991 recording either! Put on headphones and crank this motherfucker and you can hear every instrument in perfect clarity with every musician having their own space to display their incredible talent.

The booklet is great as well. The kick-ass cover art is sharp, the liner notes are packed with band history, and of course lyrics; everything you need. For $12, I believe i got more than my money's worth. I think I'll be picking up the other reissues very soon. After experiencing the abomination of Megadeth's "re-issues" a couple years back I was afraid to splurge on all the Atheist CDs at once, but now I can say my fears were unfounded in this case.

This is pure unfettered passion with absolutely no adherence to conventional rules of music, metal or otherwise. Even if you're not a metal head; if you like music for the sake of music, or if you're the very least interested in hearing something that isn't your typical radio bullshit, you owe it to yourself to buy this fucking disc. Now.