JUPITER

I have been an Atheist fan since their demo days as Ravage. Piece of Time and Unquestionable Presence are two of my favorite thrash releases. Elements is great effort as well, but I don't really consider that effort to be thrash. I never understood why people didn't like them back in the day. Their sound was so refreshing and so full of energy. And they were so incredibly talented. Sure, you couldn't headbang at the same pace for more than five seconds, but that wasn't the point of the music. I am very happy to see that they are finally getting the positive energy they deserve.I was hoping to get the Limited Edition version of Jupiter with the extra track this morning, but it looks as though I am going to have to wait. I am still not sure what the extra track is going to be, but I am hoping the rumors are true that it will be a cover of YYZ by Rush.Anyway, I couldn't help but satisfy my desire to hear new Atheist material, so I decided to download Jupiter this morning. After a couple listens, I am more than satisfied. The hooks are there. The frantic energy is there. The musicianship is there. The bass, the drums, the vocals, and the guitars have that signature Atheist sound, which is surprising considering only half the original band is there. The production quality is excellent. I couldn't be happier with the music. It easily would have been a natural progression from Unquestionable Presence. The ONLY downside is the playing time. Thirty minutes just doesn't pork the belly.Update (5/20/2011): I have repeatedly gone back to Jupiter to attempt to understand its fury. No can do. Its pure chaos; the type of chaos that makes the animal kingdom facinating. Everything is brutal, but cohesive. Somehow it works. And, yes, each time its over, I am left scratching my head wanting more. That's a good thing in my opinion. I cannot imagine a better Atheist album.Enjoy!

Let me tell you, friends, that I couldn't have been more excited when I received the news: Atheist is back and recording. I about fell to my knees and weep with utmost joy. I have been anxiously awaiting the release of Jupiter for a long while and then there it was: a package on my doorstep. Rushing inside I tossed it on my computer and prepared for what I hoped for as the glorious return of Atheist.Thirty minutes later I had a grin spread on my face that wouldn't go away, they have done it! This is unquestionably a masterful and amazing return from the technical progressive death metal gods. As mentioned in other reviews, I wholly agree that this CD would be a natural progression from Unquestionable Presence, not Elements. The Kelly Shaeffer vocals we all know and grew to love was prominent as usual with the technical, almost-manic but well controlled guitars tearing up the landscape with phenomenal drumming being the machine to drive it all. Don't get me wrong, it has all the classic Atheist sound that we love but, as to the nature of the band and their progression, they have definitely moved forward as they have done with every album before, breaching new ground, offering tasty variation and progression to their music.I was more than satisfied with what they have put on my plate, each song a delicious morsel to be savored in its own right. Yes, yes, the fact that it is a bit short is disappointing, but that does NOT detract from the album. It is a cogent and brilliant album that simply has not the need for more songs. Short and sweet.I promise to you that you will not regret in the least to dive into the new musical experience from Atheist. Go forth and listen, smile, enjoy. They have returned.

I don't know how they did it, but they did it. Elements, for many, was not the fan-favirote of their short, but important catalogue. It was, however, my favirote by a longshot. I loved the more cohesive direction, the jazz-inspired elements, and the more melodic approach and the departure from the more thrash-oriented stuff they did before. I love their entire catalogue, don't get me wrong, but the first two are for true metal/progressive metal fans only and will not be understood by the general public. Heck, even the mainstream metal fans out there wouldn't get Atheist.So here comes the beast that is Jupiter, perhaps at a point in time when Atheist is ready to take the stage like they *should have* all those 17 years ago. Of Death, Cynic, and themselves, somehow they were a distant third in most peoples eyes, perhaps because they were a bit *too* thrashy and thrash is/was a very primitive form of metal. How this happens when Cynic produced only one record is beyond me(even though Focus was something singularly special). The point is, I think Atheist's time has finally arrived now that bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan or Devin Townsend various projects are popular and not considered far-out anymore.Atheist, like it or not, did many of the things these later grind/technical acts wouldn't have thought of until they heard it when Atheist did it. So does Jupiter take the crown again for them and put them in the forefront of the progressive death metal realm? Yes and no. This album certainly isn't Elements and does away with pretty much everything from that record. Flynn is a beast and was much of the reason Atheist was Atheist at all. But there are only two of the four original members back and yet it's like they never skipped a freakin beat. Honestly, this album is the logical progression from their first two albums, not Elements, even though the later is my favirote. It does move Atheist forward, that's for sure, but it isn't exactly *nothing* that hasn't been done.This album is a burst of energy, perhaps taken from the very Sun they sing about in the first song, "Second to Sun". It is pure chaos and frenetic and everything you knew about Atheist over 20 years ago. The guitar riffs are still mostly forward-thinking and there are even a few of the Dillinger-esque slides/scratches and whatnot. Every song except perhaps one of them is brimming with the fury that is Atheist. The thrash is definately back as well, but the word "choas" has never been so apt. There aren't any blasts, but there are certainly some fast songs once again and Flynn drives pretty much everything like he did on their first two records. I do have to say though that, speaking for myself only as a drummer, I loved Greenbaums work on Elements because he was in the same class technically as Flynn but much more tasteful and decisive in his playing. Flynn is amazing, to be sure, but there are numerous times over the course of the cd where his rolls and fills just bother the heck out of me. He creates some amazing polyrythmes and his timing is spot-on in that he always keeps time, but he has this way of playing a roll in say a 2 bar segment of the composition that actually isn't played in time but he always somehow gets back to the beat on the right note even still. I suppose this is his main draw as a drummer and I've seen others like the astounding Richard Christy do it to great effect, but it just rubs me the wrong way a few times on the cd, like he is over-playing.Ragardless, this cd *is* Atheist in their truest form to date. It's fresh and progressive yet completelly in line with their style. It probably will set ablaze the progressive world as they did once before and perhaps turn some bands that have gone a bit too far away from actual songcraft back towards a style Atheist made popular. You can blow peoples minds technically whilst also making good music and Atheist has once again proven this to be possible.For clarities sake as well, my review is closer to a 4.5 than a 4. The only reason I knock it down is because I had hoped for a bit more Elements-like stuff on here, at least a couple of songs. Either way though, I'm still as hooked on them as I ever was and shudder to think I have to wait a while before I get even more new material from them.

Its ok. Not worth buying. I want my money back amazon. I did preview it and thought it grow on me especially since atheist is technical.It didnt yet.