Atrox - Orgasm

Year of Release: 2003
Label: SPV
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 46:00:00

How the music of Atrox can be described? As for myself, I would call it "ProgMetal," but [a] really progressive metal head would already assign a Dream Theater clone tag to Atrox, which is not the case at all. So, to not create a dilemma in the ProgMetal society, lets call Atrox's music, Avant-Garde Metal, which suits them better

But wait, I would really like to stick to the fact that Atrox, along with Arcturus, and Maudlin Of The Well, for examples, are really playing what can be called Progressive Metal. With bands like Dream Theater, that are less and less progressive nowadays, I sincerely believe that people who want to get challenged by their music should turn to the "weird side of the music," no pun intended.

Orgasm is the fourth album of the band, and shows once again their best work to date. It is cliché when a band says "it is our best work ever" but for a reviewer, it is good news. It can only means that the band evolved in the direction we wanted them to go. For sure, Monika's vocal performance is an acquired taste. For some, she will just sound like a pig that is being killed. For other, she will be equal to Tori Amos or Kate Bush, which are the two influences I hear the most in her vocal melodies.

As for the music itself, like I stated at the beginning of this review, this is truly what ProgMetal should be; song grooves that goes everywhere in the metal spectrum, with an hidden but well done song structure, that keeps everything flowing no matter what territories the band try to venture in. The music can be really heavy at time, while it can be sorrowful and melancholic at others.

The question regarding is plain and simple: Are you tired of what ProgMetal has to offer you? If the answer is yes, think not twice and run to get Atrox latest album, I'm pretty sure the back catalogue of the band will soon be a part of your cd collection.

Similar bands: Arcturus

[This review originally appeared December 2003 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]
Tracklisting:
Methods Of Survival (7:18) / Flesh City (5:54) / Heartquake (4:32) / Burning Bridges (6:34) / This Vigil (6:32) / Tentacles (5:51) / Secondhand Traumas (6:15) / Pre-Sense (8:04)

Musicians:
Elvind - guitars
Monika - vocals and synths
Tor-Arne - drums
Ole Marius - guitars
Pete - bass, vocals, moog

Discography:
Mindshadow (demo) (1992)
Dead Leaves (demo) (1993)
Silence The Echoes (ep) (1997)
Mesmerized (1997)
Contentum (1999)
Terrestrials (2002)
Orgasm (2003)
Binocular (2008)

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin NO

Added: December 8th 2004
Reviewer: Mathieu Chamberland
Score:
Artist website: www.atrox.no
Hits: 2058
Language: english