The Atlas Moth. I had heard of the band before, but somehow, I’ve managed to fully ignore their music so far, even though the band is making the type of music that usually sparks my interest. Hailing from Chicago in the USA, The Atlas Moth has already released three full-length albums and is now about to unleash “Coma Noir”, which finally grants me the opportunity to explore the band’s music.

A few seconds into the opening title track, I almost dismissed the album altogether. While I’m used to a wide range of vocals styles, for better and for worse, I was simply unprepared for the ferocious shrieking that The Atlas Moth uses to deliver the lyrical content. This really takes some getting used to and while I consider the vocal delivery not to be everyone’s cup of tea, the music more than makes up for it.

Usually categorized as post-metal or sludge, The Atlas Moth brings up a wide range of styles on “Coma Noir”. From the industrial post-metal riffs of the opening track, the band explores in many different directions, moving effortlessly between prog, sludge, doom, hardcore and extreme metal. “Coma Noir” is a ferociously progressive beast, impressive by sounding extremely coherent and not descending into uncontrolled chaos. The musicianship is amazing here with stunning drums by Mike Miczek and fantastic usage of the three guitarists to create a massive feast of thick riffs, as well as tasteful leads and solos.

Finished off perfectly by a top-notch production quality, which gives plenty of room for detail without forgetting to accentuate the heaviness of the music, as well as amazing artwork, I can only strongly recommend “Coma Noir” to any open-minded metalhead.

(8.5/10 Lykle Thijssen)

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https://theatlasmoth.bandcamp.com