What happens when jazz fusion and death metal have a one night stand? You get Atheist. And the result is mind-blowing. Atheist somehow perfectly manage to translate jazz rhythms into guitar, demonstrating amazing technical prowess in the process. It almost sounds as if they are improvising, but to a stupidly high standard without making any mistakes.

The vocals are somewhat of an acquired taste, been somewhat unorthodox and are not typical death metal vocals. They are really difficult to describe, but once you get used to them they work with the off the wall nature instrumentation really well.

At 32 minutes, this album is short. It melts your face and before you know it, it’s gone. But, when an album is this intense, it’s maybe a blessing in disguise that it’s over so quickly. Don’t be fooled though into thinking this is 32 minutes of jazz guitar wankery, oh no. These guys know how to construct great metal songs and it never feels like mindless shredding. That takes talent, and suggests there’s far more depth to this band than great guitar playing.

Personal Fave Track: “Mother Man”