If you are looking for underground death metal from France it’s well worth keeping an eye on Great Dane Records who seem to be doggedly (sorry) unearthing no end of it at the moment. Atrocia are the latest example and have released a couple of albums prior to this, their third independently before signing on the dotted line. The first noticeable step-up here is the cover-art which has certainly moved from the self-released sci-fi novels that the group seem inspired by to a more eye-catching design that offers more of a blockbuster excess taking things straight out the c-league.
Musically this is brutal in construct and after a spacey little intro the drums bounce in and there’s a thrashy Slayer guitar signature as the band set about ‘Unleashing The Insurgency.’ Vocals are incredibly growly and there is a noticeable USDM furrow about it all. Bass is tight and rattles around in the gaps and the savagery is pretty unrelenting. The choppy bounce is particularly well produced and putting the provided CD on I was taken aback a bit by the rolling sonic thrust of it all, as no doubt were the neighbours. There’s the odd guitar solo and occasionally between the tracks more of that brooding synth-work serving as a vacuum-packed space between bouts of battering. With those hoary growls and slight technical flourishes, the quartet hardly stand still for a second and this should go down well with those versed in the scathing deluge forged by the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Hate Eternal and Suffocation.
We traverse down ‘Corridors of the Living Dead’ danger lurking at every step of the way and the chugging lines following remorselessly. If it’s not zombies then it’s an ‘Incorporeal Killer’ let loose in the danger zone. You might not see it but rest assured it sounds like it is armed with a hammer and has a modus-operandi of bashing brains in. There’s even a section of beat downs just to ensure brains are totally pulped into mush. Occasionally the group augment some symphonic elements into the main-frame of songs such as ‘Monolith’ and this does help a little as it diversifies their sound a little which otherwise could be seen as being a little on the one-dimensional side without this and the odd interlude. Vocalising in English (not that you could at first guess this) you also have the added bonus of reading the tale as you go along and with chapters such as ‘The Curse Of The Two Headed Cobra’ rest assured it’s a messy one. Far from Atrocious ‘Contamination’ is one for the brutalists out there along with those who like films from the Roger Corman school of economics such as Forbidden World and Galaxy Of Terror.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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