Atrophia Red Sun
Twisted Logic
9.5
Now, this is something I can get into; this band. If there is a single classification that describes what this group is doing, I don't know it and I don't want to. I prefer to flush and never look back, if you take my meaning. Atrophia Red Sun has released a Heavy Metal record. That's all that matters. Inpired by several ideas, I find it useless to try to categorize it as one style or another. I can hear some Black, Thrash, Death, Prog, Industrial and even a little Marylin Manson. But don't be fooled. The genius here is that ARS make them complimentary instead of dichotomous. And you know something? That is as it should be. To begin with, the theme that holds this disc together is the spacey keyboards. They are not used to the point of annoyance, but they are a constant clue that you are listening to something geared to give you a sci-fi chill. Another constant is the degree of musicianship displayed. Tasteful, always metallic, always heavy, but also melodic and technical. The guitars have a smooth distortion with quite a bit of chunk at the breaks, and they fly between pure riffing and melodic leads with ease. Said leads are often almost orchestral and juxtapose with the chunky thrashing undercurrents perfectly. The bass is, once again, there somewhere, buried under all the other instruments. Kinda' getting sick of that. Really. You do get a track with some standout basswork up front, but it's the exception. The drums are thin and too produced for their own good, but they are efficient and convey tempos and Meshuggah-ish rhythms very well. The aforementioned keys combine with the other instruments to give the whole project a sort of old Circle of Dust flavor at times, while just keeping things off balance at others. I am not a huge keyboard/programming fan, but these guys are doing stuff that works. The songs are written with panache, and rarely have that "same song-different chords" feel so much music possesses lately. They do a good job of delineating each song thematically and texturally, for the most part. Of course, after a while anything can get predictable, even unpredictability, and this CD sometimes overloads you with wackiness, but I feel it's a small price to pay for the amount of quality music you get from this disc. Again the theme seems to be creepy scifi soundscapes, maybe even industrial at times. But it's nearly always ear catching and provocative. The production, while decent and balanced for the most part, is the one area that keeps this band from achieving something truly magnificent. The drums are just too weak...well, specifically, the snare. And the guitars could be a little more edgy, but with the mass of instrumentation that could just as easily lead to a muddy, jumbled sound. It's not BAD, by any means, but I just kept thinking it could be better, heavier, less precise and more alive. But just barely. It won't stop me from enjoying this record. Bottom Line: This is a cool disc. It's its OWN disc, too. Whatever you want to call the style can be argued and supported by turns, so why bother? It’s got a little something for most of us but stays true to its internal themes and sensibilities, and that is something of a rare feat anymore. It's not quite 666 materials, but it's damned close and deserving of any metal lover's attention. Listen to it again I will.
