Atrox - Terrestrials

Year of Release: 2002
Label: Season-Of-Mist
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 68:00:00

What is great with a lot progressive metal fans is the ability of some to be open minded in regards to music style. Atrox's latest album, Terrestrials, asks for this quality of being able to digest music that breaks the boundaries of metal.

In fact, Atrox's music is not the easiest to get into. Firstly, Monica's vocals are not something you'll hear often on commercial radio. Her blend of operatic vocal lines along with strange squarks and cries will certainly kill this album for certain people. But you should not let this minor detail interfere with your view on the album as I think this helps the band garner their own "original" sound as when it comes down to it, Terrestrials is a serious progressive metal album. I think that the term "progressive" is used way too much nowadays and that what is often called "avant-garde" metal scares some people, but in my opinion, some of these "avant-garde" metal bands that use a clean vocal approach, could really be called "progressive." Atrox's music, which was more gothic in the early days (they have three previous albums), has, with this latest album, become a true tribute to what progressive metal should be about. Their music is really hard to describe, being a blend of jazz, progressive, gothic and operatic metal. But I really can't see why this couldn't appeal to all progressive metal fans who like original music like, for example, Ayreon.

I am pretty sure real fans of progressive metal and those with an open mind who try Atrox will not be disapointed, but taking that first step can be the most difficult.

[This review originally appeared November 2002 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]
Tracklisting:
Lay / Ruin / Mare's Nest / Nine Wishes / Human Inventions / Mental Nomads / Changeling / The Bedam Of The Beldam / Translunaria / Look Further

Musicians:
Eivind - Guitars
Rune - Guitars, Bass, Samples, Sounds
Monica - Vocals, Synths
Tor-Arne - Drums

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 7th 2004
Reviewer: Mathieu Chamberland
Score:
Artist website: www.atrox.no
Hits: 2567
Language: english