Saturday, May 16, 2015

Shattered – New Atlantis

Shattered is a new technical death metal band from Germany that is about to unleash their debut full-length “New Atlantis” to the world. Make no mistake, this album shreds. If you are a fan of technical death metal that falls right in the middle between the two extremes of Atheist and Brain Drill, this album will appeal to you. “New Atlantis” isn’t quite as unique or thought-provoking as the former band, but they also dial it down a bit compared to the latter band. For example, they have actual riffs rather than non-stop sweeping.

Where Shattered does mirror Brain Drill is that the drumming is incredibly intense. There is a lot of blasting, and though it isn’t the fastest I’ve heard, it is definitely a pretty impressive display of stamina. Likewise, the guitar and bass playing is beyond top-notch. While that is true of every band in the scene, Shattered is right up there with any of the others I’ve heard. And that really is both the good thing and the band thing about this record: it’s no different from a lot of other technical death metal albums. It has some cool moments, particularly when the bass makes an impact (such as the bass solos on “Ignite The Dawnshard” or "The Fall of Hyperion"), but is ultimately another very precise and solid sounding technical death metal album. Fans of the subgenre will naturally be drawn towards the band, but for the rest of us, the album won’t be a year-end list topper.

With that said, Shattered does do a lot right. The production, while quite clean and easy to understand, is not as crystal clear as a lot of bands in this genre. It also doesn’t seem to be too loud, instead striking the right balance between older and newer death metal. Another area where Shattered excels is in the vocal department. As with the rest of the members, their growler is clearly quite skilled, but what makes him stand above the rest of the crowd is that he enunciates very well and it isn’t difficult to pick up on a lot of the lyrics. The final thing I really dug about this album is that the feeling of each song changes considerably throughout the track. This is primarily driven by the drums; while the blasting does exist, there are also sections that are more focused on double bass, or even tamer, spacier sections where the drums let the other instruments shine. These may seem like small things, but they have a big impact on the quality of the record. Overall, “New Atlantis” is an incredibly competent technical death metal album, and there isn’t much more fans of the genre could ask for.

Be sure to check out and like Shattered on Facebook!

Highlights
All of it

Final Rating
3.75/5 or 75%. 

Written by Scott 

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