Atheist — Unquestionable Presence
I feel honored to have the chance to attempt to describe Atheist's "Unquestionable Presence", one of the best and most important metal albums of the early 90's, and am glad to say this Season of Mist re-issue is as good a way as any to become familiar with this music, presented here exactly as it should sound.
To find an album with 8 consecutive songs as perfectly memorable and distinct from each other as these is nearly unheard of. This album is likely the most densely composed and consistently inspired 32 minutes of metal money could buy, a disk so pleasantly concise it will quite often provoke another playthrough as soon as it ends. The complexity of this album is so tasteful that I challenge anyone to point to any moment of gratuitous clutter or awkward transition from style to style. I would say there are none, especially by comparison to many of today's technical bands, who spend a lot of more time with overt showing off, or 'absurd' contrasts for their own sake, things wholly absent from this album.
Though often mentioned in the same breath as Cynic's "Focus", or even wayward art-thrash outfits Voivod and Watchtower, I would much sooner compare the cerebral but distinctively metal riffing style to Death. It's my opinion that the jazziness of this album is often overstated. The work of guitarist / vocalist / songwriter Kelly Schaefer, in particular, has few traces of jazz. His guitar tone has a chunky, thick texture, with many the riffs dominated by complex permutations of low register chugging. The leads and solos are often harmonic minor, pentatonic, or more angular chromatic patterns, bringing the ominous tone commonly associated with death metal, but not much jazz flavor.
The jazzy feel associated with this album can be traced to the bright, percussive and often melodic funk playing of bassist Tony Choy, as well as drummer Steve Flynn's light touch, and penchant for constant fills. The album's beginning, for example, is a truly memorable and disorienting moment, a dissonant twanging chord from Choy encircled in thunderous freeform fills, cohering into something satisfyingly metal as soon as Schaefer's enters a moment later. It could be said that Choy 'steals the show'. His mindblowing performance extends beyond what I even thought possible from the electric bass, taking a lead role, more often than not, with such dazzlingly dense slapping and chordal playing that Choy creates counterpoint with himself, deepening the music considerably.
The best thing I can say about this new re-issue of the album is that they did not change the music in any way. I have grown jaded to the concept of 'remasters' after hearing far too many albums ruined by 'loudness wars' compression. The sound is often made brighter and clearer at the expense of its dynamic soundspace, resulting in harsh, ear fatiguing records. I compared the waveforms of this CD to the original 1991 issue of the album, and they look and sound the same.
In other words, there's nothing new on this version. It's one of the best albums of all time, so I'm going to give it a perfect rating, but if you already have this album, I can't see why you would buy it again. The bonus tracks included here (demo versions of the album tracks) were already included on previous re-issues, and personally, I don't often listen to them.
The production was great then, and it is great now. The perfect balance of clean and powerful. If one was to make one criticism of it, it would be that Kelly's voice is quiet enough that most of the lyrics are inaudible without headphones, despite the fact that his singing style is reasonably decipherable. Whether you'd want the vocals louder is a matter of taste, as they're hardly the most important element in this kind of music.
His style is worthy of mention, a quasi-melodic mid-range howl closer to thrash and other styles of 80's metal than the usual 'cookie monster' death metal grunt. As with his guitar work, it's similar in style to Chuck Schuldiner. It certainly has more a direct emotive quality than the detached grunts of bands pre-occupied with gore and horror subject matter, which extends to his introspective lyrics, charged with a relatable existential angst. A sense of urgency, of struggling on all levels to solve a complex problem, endures through the album.
All in all, we have in Atheist's "Unquestionable Presence" the most satisfyingly 'metal' of all jazz metal archetypes, comparable to Death's "Human". Even those who profess to hate the overblown poeticism and pretention of modern day 'djent' groups could likely find much to enjoy here. It's metal that never overstates itself or engages in chest beating, allowing the notes and movements to speak for themselves, sinking in after years and years of listening. Needless to say, highly recommended to the uninitiated, but again, this is the same recording as before, so no need for a re-purchase.