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ATROCITY
Okkult II

Massacre (2018)
Rating: 9/10

I remember fondly being introduced to German metallers Atrocity through their 1990 debut outing Hallucinations, a record I still spin quite often today. But boy have these guys evolved into a force of nature, bringing with them varying sounds, styles and ideas which remain prominent with tenth full-length album Okkult II.

Those snappy vocal blurts, the cutting, concise guitar sound and hammering drums can only hint at the eclectic flavours this combo has constructed within a deathly framework. Atrocity never forget their roots but there’s just so much going here; Gothic booming choirs, militant precision, chugging hammers of doominess, scathing blackness, seething arrogance, engrossing lyrics and perverse melodies.

Okkult II is just another classic this band has created. Just listen to opener ‘Masters Of Darkness’ and try to disagree with me as Atrocity brings dark, brooding guitar churns alongside efficient, striking percussion and those almost orchestral chorus chants.

And then we experience the tumbling, twisted groove of ‘Shadowtaker’, which builds into a thrashing frenzy of squabbling bass lines and deep, guttural vocal slurps. You just never know what’s coming next.

In spite of all their experimentation and meddling, Atrocity have never come across as some geeky progressive combo, because as the leads fizz and Alexander Krull grunts his way through the mayhem you’re reminded of diversity; one which stays within the main framework of heavy accessibility and a Coroner-like coldness that drags you into its grey cellar only to bamboozle and batter you. It is death metal, it is thrash metal, yet it’s mystical, arrogant, and dazzling.

‘Bloodshed And Triumph’ hints at latter day Death, but there’s those orchestral streaks again bringing a bombastic thread, while ‘Spell Of Blood’ churns on black riffs and ‘Menschenschlachthaus’ ripples frantically with machine-gun drumming. And then ‘Gates To Oblivion’ (with guest vocals from ex-Morgoth frontman Marc Grewe) comes with heaps of doomy quality as again Atrocity plumb the depths of tech-death brutality.

Okkult II is just full of brilliance, featuring 11 tracks which come thick and fast, with each one different from the other. Entombed’s L-G Petrov spits his way through ‘Devil’s Covenant’, a melodic thrasher with whipping riffs, while ‘Infernal Sabbath’ is a death / thrash powerhouse steeped in brooding melody and built upon Joris Nijenhuis’ incredible percussive performance.

But Okkult II just reeks of class, as the dark stirring suspense of ‘All Men Must Die’ is swallowed by the equally threatening ‘Phantom Ghost’ with its effective trudging. Man, it’s just so inventive, yet never unpredictable to the point of confusion or chaos with Atrocity operating like a perfectly drilled army, fine-tuned to deliver its weaponry guised in mid-tempo creativity and hostile, snarling methodology. Where such ideas come from I’ll never know, but Atrocity as a force continue to amaze with their blackened spills of innovation.

Neil Arnold

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