Atheist - Elements (Reissue) - Reviews - Diabolical Conquest Webzine

Kelly Shaeffer- Rhythm Guitar, Vox
Rand Burkey- Lead Guitar
Frank Emmi- Lead Guitar
Tony Choy- Bass
Marcell Dissantos- Drums

At the risk of being labelled a heretic, I actually really like this record. It isn't something I pull out each and every time I'm in the quest for an Atheist fix, but I do truly enjoy it for what it is. I will, however, state quite adamantly that I have never really viewed this as a genuine Atheist recording, considering that while Burkey, Shaeffer and Choy are all present and accounted for, the rhythm section that, to me, really formed the basic premise of Atheist's greatness is absent, Steve Flynn having departed for a college education at this point. With two inimitable personalities gone, lead architect Shaeffer was left with the unenviable task of creating something that would be on par with the unyielding vision and brazen brilliance of the first two platters. Now, I don't think that 'Elements' succeeds on all counts, and it certainly doesn't, in any shape or form, rank alongside either of the first two Atheist records in terms of overall playability, but it has, over the years, made a somewhat regular appearance in my disc changer. After, all, it's not really an Atheist record with that lineup, hehe.

Thankfully, one thing hasn't changed about this band, and that's Shaeffer/Burkey's audacious sense of adventure and inerrant creativity. Just like 'Unquestionable Presence' was an astonishing turn after 'Piece Of Time', 'Elements' is a wholly distinguished entity unto itself, truly unlike anything that bore the Atheist or R.A.V.A.G.E. imprint to date. The off-balance, twisting fusion rhythms still feature prominently throughout, as does the syncopated playing, but there is a VERY pronounced samba/latin jazz groove that has snuck in here, and assumes just as much precedence in 'Elements' as the prog/jazz leanings that typified their previous release. Yes, there's a lot of noodling and space-rock vacuousness, a lot of truly strange chord progressions, a host of lucid lead guitar and bass breaks, some utterly random songwriting ideas, and it doesn't always work. However, it works often enough for me to state, with absolute confidence, that this record doesn't do damage to the mighty Atheist name.

Much unlike Cynic's 'Focus', another work that exhibits similar affinities for world music, exotic rhythms, fusion jazz and alarmingly clean tones, 'Elements' still manages to rock pretty hard and showcase some pretty involved songwriting. Choy evidently is not half the writer that Patterson was, but his playing remains as good as jazz-metal players get. To a large degree, the bass still serves as the core of the compositions, though Shaeffer, Emmi and Burkey (three guitars?!) add a lot of really cool textures in the form of classical flamenco guitar (“Water”, man, great track). Unlike the prior two endeavors, for the first time Atheist indulge in entire instrumental interludes, some of which are rather fun, some of which are wholly unnecessary. “Samba Briza” is all that its name suggests- breezy, lackadaisical lightweight samba complete with pianos that sound more at home in an island resort than on a death metal recording. Still, somehow it works, Choy's athletic bass providing a muscular, sinewy, scowling counterpart to the euphoric keys. “Displacement” is like a pretty crappy attempt at making a one and a half minute counterpart to Pink Floyd's “Echoes” or something, liquid, effects-soaked guitar supplemented with a pretty lazy bass melody. “Fractal Point” is more of the same, striving for atmosphere but really falling flat in its redundancy and pointlessness. Thankfully, it lasts a mere 44 seconds.

As for the tracks that actually rock, Atheist exhibit a good deal of the thrillingly unpredictable, labyrinthine songwriting that defined their first two opuses. “Air” opens with phantasmal, cooing guitars that swell into a cataclysmic mash of atonal, scronky, trebly staccato before raining shards of attention-deficient, shifting riffing that coil conspicuously around your consciousness and coerce you into submission. Of course, the record has a small handful of duds- I have no idea what's going with the constipated vocals in “Animal”, which render the track nigh near unlistenable. Thankfully, for all the ideas that somehow fail to stick, there is a good number of cool, totally leftfield concepts that really pan out, like “Mineral”, which, for most of its second half, thrives entirely on bizarro rhythms and dangerously melodic progressions that give the song a feel distinct from anything else on the recording. Check out that mindmelting section a minute and a half through the title track too, and try to tell me this album sucks balls. Sure, Dissantos and Greenbaum are FAR from Steve Flynn, who I always felt to be just as integral to the Atheist legacy as Roger Patterson, but I don't feel as though one can dispute the irrepressible sense of ambition that surfaces all throughout this piece.

It's almost as though Relapse is aware of the fact that many death metal diehards regard 'Elements' with contempt, for they have tacked 6 live tracks on to this set, which is pretty much the closest thing you'll ever get to a live Atheist record without resorting to bootlegs. As one may expect from having a peer at the tracklisting, this set rules the universe, and it's astounding that the radio crew were so on the ball on this occasion, because the mixing sounds incredible for an on-air affair, almost identical to the studio efforts. I don't have a clue who Darren McFarland is, but he really does an admirable job filling in for the likes of Patterson and Choy. While his playing isn't a note-for-note facsimile, there is essentially no deviation from the original compositions. Interestingly, “On They Slay”'s intro is considerably busier, more chaotic and faster than the original, Steve Flynn's fills spilling all over themselves in the opening section and adding an interesting dynamic to the original, unquestionably one of the best Atheist songs ever. Relapse have chosen, quite humorously, NOT to edit out the between-song banter, and we hear a very twang-y, Southern Kelly Shaeffer doing some unnervingly tame and personable babble in between numbers. Depending on your tolerance of friendly, worryingly Southern-neighbor-next-door chatter in between your bursts of hyper-aggro, brainfrying death metal, you will either find this adorable or abhorrent.

If you're already a fan of this record, I am certain that you either a) own this record, or b) will seize this opportunity to purchase this exceptionally well-packaged reissue. If you have yet to unearth the hidden merits of this much-maligned record, I urge you to give it another chance, if only for the exceptional live set. As per the other Relapse reissues, there is a great blurb courtesy of Kelly that illuminates the context of the recording and the circumstances under which it was crafted, and there's a whole host of cool photos, too. Much less essential than 'Unquestionable Presence' (which in turn, is slightly less essential than 'Piece Of Time'), but a worthy purchase all the same in my books.