ALBUM REVIEW: III: Absolution – Atavist
The world is a bleak place as of late. This year alone we’ve witnessed bush fires incinerate Australia, storms causing widespread flooding across the United Kingdom, a global pandemic turning our modern way of life on its head and social tensions across the globe explode in the aftermath of yet another incident of police brutality. The more one reads into the global shit show that is this year, the more one can slip into feelings of hopelessness and despair. If there was ever the right time for doom metal merchants ATAVIST to return from the shadows, it is now.
Thirteen long years have passed since the band last unleashed their harrowing soundscape (2007’s II: Ruined) but now, as the world is engulfed in darkness and anxiety-inducing uncertainty, III: Absolution arrives as the soundtrack to the apocalypse. Featuring four songs that are as bleak as they are harrowing, this album is not for the faint hearted.
Loss kicks off the album and is an emotional roller-coaster to say the least. Colossal passages of doom-driven heaviness where crushing riffs and harrowing vocals intertwine with gorgeous melodic movements where the acoustic guitars and violin play from Bianca Blezard pull on the heartstrings paints a picture that is emotionally draining. This juxtaposition of heaviness and emotional fragility works an absolute treat in showcasing the bleakness at play within ATAVIST‘s sonics. A fine opening indeed.
Where Loss offered glimmers of hope, Struggle is a different beast entirely. Gone are the splashes of melodic fragility, Struggle goes for the jugular through across its near 15-minute runtime. Moving at a glacial pace, misanthropic riffs crash and collide against the wretched screams from vocalist Toby Bradshaw, throwing you deep down into the abyss. Whilst one could argue that the song is rather one-dimensional, and that a change of pace would help keep you on your toes, in a way, Struggle is the living embodiment of ATAVIST‘s mission statement for creating musical misery. It doesn’t get much bleaker than this.
Self-Realisation feels akin in a sense to Struggle where a large majority of the ten-minute epic moves at a crawl. The funeral doom-esque guitar work from Chris Naughton keeps the atmosphere suffocating before the track evolves into a passage of play this is utterly brilliant. Ample double bass drumming from Callum Cox injects a rare sense of urgency into the mix and the added use of a church bell chiming helps engulf you into the gloom. It doesn’t get much bleaker than this. Final track on the album, Absolution, like its namesake is an absolute monolith in its scope and sheer power. Here, we bare witness to a side of ATAVIST not seen before as keyboardist Mark Deeks helps forge a synth-laden landscape and the string segment of violinist Bianca Blezard and cellist Jo Quail allow a feeling of fragility to enter the mix which works remarkably well against the sorrowful guitar work and howling vocals allowing for an emphatic and heart-wrenching finish. This really is an album that emotionally drains you and instils a feeling of hopelessness in these turbulent times.
For those looking for a gateway into extreme music or looking for a soundtrack for your summer, III: Absolution is not the album for you. Even the most seasoned veterans of the extreme will find this album difficult to digest thanks to its authentic approach to form a suffocating cloud of misery. However, invest enough time in ATAVIST and III: Absolution will reveal its true nature; this is a record that is engulfing as it is intimidating. This is the soundtrack to the end of days, the aural representation of pain and suffering.
Rating: 8/10
III: Absolution is out now via Candlelight Records.
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