New Album Sunder by Atlas Reviewed

Finnish Northcore - Atlas - New Album - Sunder

Words by BeckyKat Kaptures

Today I am reviewing the new album by Altas, Sunder, previously not a band on my radar but now I'm asking 'When can I see them?!'

Altas are a Finnish metal band described as Northcore who formed in 2015, musically they are metalcore with themes of Finnish mythology and poetry with tones of darkness running through.  Their new album is a perfect progression from their first 2 albums Primitive and Ukko, adding more depth musically and emotionally.

To begin our journey we start with 'Sermon to the Dying Light', the eerie unassuming starting to the Altas, which then delves into instantly catchy and heavy riffs of 'Tower' which immediately makes you want to get headbanging.  The blast beats in this song are mind blowing.

Heading on into 'Salt and Sulfur', the clean vocals of the chorus are a beautiful calm amongst the raw power of emotions of screams, heavy riffs from the guitars, bass and rapid fire beats.  The pain and suffering delve deep into this perfectly formed tune.

'Whisper your Name like a Curse',  explores the pain of our relationships, through lyrics and darkness of the sound.  As the words continue with 'I Whisper your name like it hurts' along with deep and graceful music that flows perfectly, hitting at all the right moments, heavy and poetic in equal measure.

'Coven of Two' sees further gentler exploration of dark liaisons, the vocalist showing a beautiful range from haunting singing to guttural screaming, showing the pain of sacrifice in equal but different ways.  The variation of the heaviness of the riffs and beats match the eb and flow of this lovely track.

'Altar of Love', starts like a gentle hug, the vocalist having elements of Ville Valo in his intonation.  The slow drum beat and gentle sounds makes you want to pull your lighters out to sway along to this.  A perfect ballad track creating a haunting atmosphere of romantic sadness.

'Anodyne', deep grinding doom, love the heaviness of this, the false sense of security of the chorus so gentle before back into the alluring doom.

Leading into the final and title track, Sunder, a peaceful calming poetic end to absolutely incredible musical masterpiece.

This is a band to watch out for and I for one cannot wait to catch them live.

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