Atrophy
Lexical Occultation 1.618: The Veil from Beyond

March 2011
Released: 2010, Great Dane Records
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

Jazzy, downright brutal and technical death metal from Chambéry, Rhône-Alpes, France... into it? It depends, I hear you replying back to me. If it depends on whether you may dig overall sort of unorthodox agenda in this sport called death metal, then you may well dig this French Atrophy´s approach to death metal, too.



These French have been around more than 10 years already (the band was formed in 1998) and have released a couple of demos, plus been featured for one split cassette release, consisting of 4 bands. Magick Art Entertainment also released Atrophy´s first two demos on CD (titled LABYRINTHS) in 2007, so LEXICAL OCCULTATION 1.618: THE VEIL FROM BEYOND can be considered the band´s debut album, which they originally put out in 2009 by themselves – and was getting a re-release treatment later on by the courtesy of Great Dane Records.



LEXICAL OCCULTATION 1.618: THE VEIL FROM BEYOND is a damn fine release, I mean if you just happen to dig such death metal torpedos like Suffocation, Psycroptic, Cryptopsy – and whatnot, even later era Cannibal Corpse, having all this technical trickery and wankery strictly involved within the music of extreme nature. Atrophy´s tricky, multi-layered and sometimes even über-technical death metal ain´t any hard dish to eat either; there´s constantly happening so many things within their songs that definitely demand a listener´s full attention so that one could enjoy the most of it. Don´t expect to get all the flavors just at one listen, otherwise you will be slightly disappointed. Give some time to this record, and it starts paying off for you eventually for sure.



The musicianship is on a great level in Atrophy, and the guys have really taken their time to get their songs recorded for this album. Gludo on drums earns a special mention for being quite a virtuoso behind his drum kit, really adjusting himself into some sort of machine level when starting to demolish his drum artillery – plus I cannot help but admire Stef´s deep and dark death grunts that have more than just a little in common with Ross Dolan´s death throat in Immolation.



Sure thing, technical and progressive death metal ain´t any new phenomenon any more, but this French Atrophy can still deliver their goods convincing enough way to make it all worthwhile for them – and hopefully for the suckers of this type of death metal as well. I gave them a chance – and I cannot say I regret it a bit afterwards.