Piece of Time

It's pretty much agreed upon that Atheist's first two albums are classics. I personally even include Elements as part of that "classic era" of Atheist too, as I find that it still maintains that same high level of musicianship. But today, I'm reviewing their very first album: Piece of Time. I think people don't always give this album the credit it deserves. Sure, it's lauded by most, but I would wager that most Atheist fans and metalheads at large prefer the prog diversions and mastery they display on Unquestionable Presence. To me though, Piece of Time remains pretty much just as good to this very day and I'd imagine some people may even prefer Piece of Time over Atheist's sophomore LP.

One thing to note is that this album was very ahead of its time. That may seem strange to say, as Piece of Time came out in 1990. The average enthusiast might claim, "well, Dawn of Possession and Human were right around the corner," and that person would be right in one sense; however, most of this album was actually first recorded as demos under the Atheist moniker in 1987 and 1988, with a couple ideas on here dating back as far as '85! Think about where death metal was at that time! In 1987, Seven Churches and Scream Bloody Gore were cutting edge, meanwhile these Atheist songs (originally written under the name RAVAGE,) were so far ahead of pretty much all their contemporaries. Maybe it's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things to point this out, but I think it's worth mentioning that these guys are pretty much the tech death OGs. This album as well as the demos that came before it blazed the trail for other pioneers of this flavor of death metal, such as Cynic, Nocturnus, and of course, latter period Death.

With that out of the way, I'm ready to analyze the actual content here, and wow, it's all certainly something to behold. Atheist really pulled out all the stops, taking those rather raw, sandy demos and polishing them into something quite pearly. There really is so much to like here, it's kind of hard to point out specific things which make it so great, but I'll try.

One thing I love about Piece of Time is that the band goes for a decidedly brutal style. For example, Schaefer's voice is utterly unhinged and animalistic on basically every track, cementing this as a truly monumental performance of his. The lyrics are also damn good, though this album is mostly focused on an atheist/skepticist angle, which I don't find to be a bad thing, as they do it quite well (though perhaps not as well as the next album). They rely on many old school thrash and death guitar techniques here (aside from the technical, proggy ideas), which also bolster the brutal edge of this album. Steve Flynn executes several awesome drum fills during the various time signature changes and he's also consistently great the whole time too, really.

Aside from the brutality lent to it by its osdm/ostm guitar riff philosophy, Atheist also allows the bass to perform many great technical parts too. Most bands of this era relegated bassists to a rhythmic, "hold down the low end and follow the drums" role, but Atheist knew of the fuckery possible and decided to run with it. There are SO MANY great bass runs on here, Roger Patterson (RIP) employs tons of great prog and arpeggiotic ideas as if he's been doing this relatively cutting edge style for years, (which, as I pointed out above, is actually true!)

I think the sightly raw 80s-style metal production on Piece of Time enhances it a lot. The mix is slightly grimy and imperfect, which I think absolutely suits the brutal style on display. If these songs were given 100% clean treatment, as a lot of modern prog metal gets, I'd personally find them less effective. I think that many modern progdeath bands have a lot to learn from bands of this era such as Atheist and Cynic. A little bit of imperfection and rawness in the production goes a long way toward humanizing otherwise virtuosic performances, as well as making the music bite harder.

It's difficult to point out a bad moment on Piece of Time, since the whole thing is expertly crafted, but I think if I had to choose which track slightly disappointed me, it would be album closer, No Truth. This song is still good, but it's my least favorite. I wouldn't say the energy fizzles out because of it, but putting No Truth at the end doesn't give this album as triumphant of an end as it could have had. The main problem I have with No Truth is not its content, it's its placement within the tracklist. I think it was certainly possible for Atheist to have given this album a far more intense and satisfying ending, but as you can probably tell, I'm really searching for some kind of problem in an otherwise essentially perfect experience. Had they moved No Truth to the middle, this album would be getting a perfect score.

I haven't really mentioned the highlights on here, and that's because pretty much every song is just that awesome. Why would I waste my time gushing over every track, when I could just tell you to go take a listen yourself. It's only about 30 minutes, after all. It really is a piece of time: it's succinct, cohesive, and never gets boring because it never overstays its welcome. I think Piece of Time is one of those great debuts which is certainly amazing on its own, but unfortunately lives in the shadow of its slightly more popular and more acclaimed successor. This isn't a Kill em All/Ride the Lightning situation, where the latter is clearly superior, I honestly think the gap between Piece of Time and Unquestionable Presence is far narrower than we're led to believe. Give this one a try, I promise it'll be worth every second.

Atheist are rightfully lauded for their mind-bending second album ("Unquestionable Presence"). However, don't let the undeniable greatness of that record prevent you from revisiting their debut. "Piece of Time" is classic Florida death metal in its own right, and ranks with the best of the genre. This album was actually recorded at the end of 1988, but wasn't released until the middle of 1990. The eighteen month delay may have lessened the album's impact, with heavier and more extreme records like "Slowly We Rot" and "Altars of Madness" being released in the interim. This doesn't matter much in retrospect.

It is worth remembering that Atheist were one of the first ever death metal bands. These guys started making an approximation of death metal back in 1985 (under the name of R.A.V.A.G.E.). "Piece of Time" represents the fruition of the band's first three years. As you might expect, there is a lot of thrash here; tons of triplet-picked riffs and a big Slayer influence. Five of the nine songs come from the band's deep demo history ("No Truth", "Beyond", "Life", "On they Slay" and "Why Bother?"), a sixth ("Room with a View") has been adapted from an ancient song on the band's first demo (under the title of "Rotting in Hell"). This old material contains some of the sharpest, meanest, tightest thrash riffs ever recorded (see the beginning of "Beyond" for a perfect example). This stuff is an ideal gateway for wayward thrash fans wanting to explore scarier music.

"Piece of Time" is a death metal record though. The level of savagery, groove and complexity is beyond that of any extreme thrash band. This record has a swagger and a looseness that bands like Sadus could only dream of. The best illustration is on the newer songs like the title track and "I Deny". The tempo for these songs is more measured, less frenetic and less thrashy. There are plenty of hints of the band's progressive tendencies (e.g., the middle section of "I Deny"). The band's musicianship and song-writing abilities has always been exemplary. These guys did not write any filler. Every song matters. The Morrisound production sounds much cleaner and sharper than other Scott Burns jobs. He brings Roger Patterson's legendary bass playing from the depths, and makes Kelly Shaefer's rasping voice sound as evil as possible.

This record was easily strong enough to compete with the glut of Florida death metal albums from the period. I am certain that Chuck Schuldiner took influence from this album, en route to making more thoughtful, technical albums (i.e., "Human"). The most impressive thing of all was that Atheist were not yet the finished article. The progressive elements of this album were mere stepping stones. The band were already scheming how to surpass it with their all-time classic second album. "Piece of Time" manages to shine in spite of all this. It is the heaviest and nastiest Atheist material, and it will kick your ass.

When it comes to all forms of technical and progressive death metal, from the spastic brutality of a modern day Archspire or the warm, clean sounds of Descent, these two very differing sounds can all harken back to one pioneering prog/tech death band - their name? Atheist.

Yes, formerly known as R.A.V.A.G.E. in the early to mid 1980s, Atheist is widely accepted to be the first band to blend progressive rock influences with the brutality of death metal. They aren't the first metal band to do so; Watchtower, Coroner and Voivod to name a few got headstarts in the mid 80s, albeit blending the prog elements with more heavy/thrash metal.

This here in 1989 is their debut album, Piece of Time and on it slays indeed. It is a very musically impressive, warping mass of riffs, solos and drum fills that beats the listener down with thrash-like intensity. It is, despite its technicality, extremely abrasive. Tech/prog death bands tend to let their complexity diminish the ferocity of their music a lot. This has always been what makes Atheist my favorite; that rage, that fury, that aggressive passion that comes with early death/thrash is on full display on their first two records, both a magnificent combination of bounce, brutality and virtuosity. I'd say Piece of Time is definitely more unhinged and raw when compared to Unquestionable Presence, but it doesn't deter really any from the listening experience - it is its own beast, and really shouldn't be compared to the next album.

Honestly, if you just enjoy thrash or death metal, there isn't any reason you wouldn't enjoy this album. It's surely technical, and would throw a more casual listener for a few twists and turns, but it's definitely far from inaccessible, and that's what makes it so good. It's raw, simple and it just works well for what it is. It's tech death in its most caveman form.

I'd say most, if not, ALL, death metal fans should listen to Atheist, they grew up in the same place, knew the same guys and even INSPIRED Death. So… yeah. They're one of the top 5 most important death metal bands ever and you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you haven't heard either of their opuses. Of course the second one is my favorite album of all time, but that's for another day. Their third album is a step down in quality, unfortunately not because of circumstances the band really had much control over, but it is what it is. They split up, reformed and put out an album in 2010 which… no.

FFO: Death, Cynic, Hellwitch
Favorite song: I Deny
Final score: 9/10

It's said that the first cds beginnings of most bands are just a starter before the next albums. Well, maybe so, but it's difficult to generalize everyone in this way, especially when it comes to the Atheist format group! This band made a debut like that, to which such trivial phrases simply do not fit and seem terribly harmful. During the death metal boom, Atheist turned out to be an extraordinary band in this trend, quite innovative and - even from a later perspective - unusual sounding. After all, at the time, they proposed something way beyond the norm.

The recipe for death metal in their performance was quite specific. Well, "Piece Of Time" is a death metal still very steeped in the speed and aggression characteristic for thrash metal (especially in terms of dicing riffs and Kelly Scheafer's vocals that are on the verge of thrash incur and death squawk), on the other side, full of technical twists, irregular rhythms, jazz deviations, but also madness and rawness. The point is that this death-jazz mix-mash really sticks together and none of these components dominate the others (the other thing is that in the later years the quartet did not suffer from more technique)! Combinatorialism has come to the Atheist so easily here that it does not even for a moment pass the thought of calling "Piece..." overdone. Anyyyway, the talent to create hits in this style and their number says for itself about the genius of this album. "Unholy War", "No Truth", "Room With A View", "On They Slay", the title one, "I Deny", are just some of the awesomeness in "Piece Of Time". It shouldn't be surprising, however, because with the kind of skills of the band had at their disposal, it was obvious that they would make an absolutely explosive mixture out of it. I mentioned the frontman (but not the quality of his riffs, and they are excellent too!), so I praise the others. The sophisticated solos of Rand Burkey, the jazzy style playing of Steve Flynn, but above all, the bass madness of Roger Patterson, who often comes to the fore and goes with technical twigs. In fact, even the atmosphere and sound make a great impression and add exceptional originality to the music!

And since I have no objections to "Piece Of Time", the rating above is known and obvious. The Americans from Atheist on their debut simply perfectly combined death/thrash sounds with technique and progression, and at the same time created a piece of excellent music, which even after many years makes no less impression. Interestingly, their vision didn't end there.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2021/05/atheist-piece-of-time-1990.html

Way back during the earliest days of death metal, bands were looking for ways to produce the most extreme brand of music that would foreshadow the darker era that was the 90's, thus breaking away from the 80's and from the thrash metal norm. Floridians Atheist release their debut 'Piece of Time' in 1990, a year almost symbolically delineating exactly the stylistic borders between the decades. Although the music here still carries a lot of thrash metal elements, it fosters ambitions of moving forward towards a more technical and vicious style with eclectic influences mingling at the heart of it.

Basically put, this combines the aggressive speedy edge of thrash with jazz infused complexity and the sinister spirit of death metal. Just in feel, it's too ominous sounding to be called thrash, but not quite grim and brutish enough to be full on death metal and it exists somewhere between both worlds. A comparison between them and mid-period Death begs to be made as the two Floridian heavy weights bear many similarities. As a shortcut, it could be said this band here sounds like Death on steroids as they seem to be executing the same sort of music, even down to the exact riffing style and tones, but with a more prolific approach.

The tracks all contain a wealth of different riffs and sections, doing a little bit of everything that was possible on an electric guitar at the time. The most popular form of guitar work here that fans have long praised would be the jazz inspired single-note riffage coupling death metal intensity with clinical precision in pure chromatic madness. They'll use some of that linear riffing style with a steady pace running up and down scales, often backed by the characteristic octave harmony with the bass playing the same melody; one area that draws immediate comparisons to Death. The tremolo picking brings an anchoring weight and danger back to the tracks whenever the sections pull the focus away from the death metal as they sometimes get busy with complex composition that spontaneously moves to full instrumental mode.

This album is ridden with temperamental solos and leads that won't keep still and will throw themselves into the mix without notice: wild pentatonic licks and shredding up and down scales, at times soloed with just the bass covering the background, intoxicated whammy and vibrato wailing, screaming bends at the edge of the fretboard...it's all there. Of course the bass is given a starring role along with the guitars as the album is unashamedly a technicality show first and foremost. It'll sometimes come out from the back of the mix, where it's well audible to start with, and opportunistically seize a chance at stealing the show, even for one brief moment.

The vocal style is fairly undefinable by any one genre, and like the very album itself it's somewhere between the styles of a couple of genres. Again, a parallel can be drawn with Death, as the vocals sound close to Schuldiner's venomous mid-highs, but they're neither an attempted growl nor really quite a thrash lead voice. They're also often much faster in cadence than Schuldiner, making them somewhat unique for death metal.

An interesting facet on here is the fact the songs are all deliberately short in length with most tracks below 4min. With all the youthful exuberance of a band's debut album, even more so a debut technical extreme metal album, this easily could've been a mess in progressive composition that lasted way too long for its own good. And yet, it's just over half an hour long. There's a real effort in keeping the tracks concise, although things can get a bit overwhelming during those tracks.

In hindsight there is still however a bit of a sentiment that the music bears a sort of cacophonic aspect to it, and although the band keeps the songs focused, overall the album may feel like a whole lot of notes waving about everywhere (with a few highlights for sure) versus a ripe piece of repeatedly memorable songs. This is certainly an innovative classic for the genre, but it feels a bit too even from start to finish and ironically (this being a supposedly unpredictable technical album) a tad too obvious after a couple of tracks.
They came at the right moment right at the start of the decade in pole position and offered the world some insight as to what death metal could do technically, but the material on here although very solid may've mainly served as a learning curve for the next generation to come. Piece of Time: timely rather than timeless.

Annable Courts - https://antichristmagazine.com/review-atheist-piece-of-time-active-records/

Is the whole greater than the part of the sums? That is exactly the question here. With Atheist, it bloody well is. What this band at the core of its foundation is a set of musicians who've looked out beyond the existing definition of genre and boundary. This is not unheard of in the 90's, neither are they truly the first to bring about such critically radical views challenging the traditional songwriting. I don't think the band even set out to want to sound the way they to. To me Atheist is truly an artistic miracle that did not want to be inhibited by standard walls, it rather stood on a unique sonic identity carefully crafted that even now stands the test of time. It's been 3 decades since the release of Piece of Time and even today this is the pinnacle of technical detail metal or jazz influenced death metal whatever it is you want to call it. One of the exercises I did for this review is to put out the songs on a spreadsheet and mark who did what with each track, allow me to gently remind you that Kelly Shaefer wrote all the guitar parts in the first R.A.V.A.G.E demo which pushed my curiosity. What exactly is this energetic frontman capable of and voila, Kelly contributed to the entire album and exclusively wrote the music to 2 spectacular songs on the album, Unholy War and On The Slay.

Having said that, let's immediately move on to the most under appreciated section of any metal album, the bass. Well, Roger Patterson (RIP) has literally left an entire generation behind him with the spectacular performance on this album. This is not just a bold in-your-face performance, it's possibly one of the best bass performances by then on a metal album. Roger "Magic Fingers" Patterson has literally pushed the boundaries of bass playing. He's challenging the lead guitarist, he immediately breaks down into one of the smoothest jazz-finish-like passages laying the way for Kelly to shout his lungs out. This is not just a bassist, he's an authority on rhythm who has built the sound of the band and added in a layer of melody whilst simultaneously pushing the overall heaviness quotient of the band. He's truly one of the greats and one of the best ever to add such depth to the album. Yes, there are plenty others, in the context now, the music we're talking about and the creative impact it has had on scores of bass player, Roger has carved a niche for himself in the history. RIP Roger!

Piece of time is a tornado, that has uprooted your community. You can see the lives of everyone twirled without mercy and throw in directions unknown. The album is just as powerful as it is relentless. How can anyone pack so many ideas in 30 minutes is beyond my comprehension. At any point in time when listening to this album, I neither have the thought of melody, nor harmony, it's just an overflowing push and pull of notes. In a normal metal release, I'd find such screechy vocals annoying, Kelly manages to strike perfect balance within instruments to fit in his contribution and it sounds perfect. Coming back to the tornado analogy, a tornado technically connects both the earth and a cloud. Atheist as a whole do exactly that, breakdown every single notion of generic death metal to add in layers of musical capability and vision that stretches to miles without an end. Let's take a moment to specifically focus on the the guitar blitzkrieg here. The lead parts on every single song stands out, there's not a place or a segment that I can pick apart and say that's just the linear progression of scales with muscle memory chipping in to add flavour. The guitarists (Rand & Kelly) absolutely pick up the instrument and re-construct it back with a haze that Hendrix would be proud of.

Although there are moments when there are absolutely straightforward riffs, Atheist manages to induce such brilliant tempo changes to these passages, as an example, in Unholy War (shame it's just 2:18 but I suppose that's what makes it even endearing) mid-way, the band shifts to a nice slow lazy tempo, slowing down to eventually picking up pace like a home made uncompromising machine gun and in a span of just one minute you hear the genius of 2 excellently composed solos at a pace which literally is a brand new approach to songwriting as a whole in this genre. On the next track, Room With A View, within the first 40 seconds there is a solo which builds up to withhold a monolith on it's back. The beauty here is although from a listener point of view these are just really fast progressions, these solos manage to sound amazing in their own right without ever falling out of place or sticking out.

One of the biggest points of contention is, have Atheist traded their soul for a technically challenging output? Well, the soul of this album is the complexity itself, ideas like these aren't the basic mathematical equations to simply approach and solve. Underlying every output of art is a certain vision that forms the core of what the artist wants to express. As logical and traditional that sounds, in my opinion without bothering about all that, I utterly, thoroughly and wholeheartedly enjoy this album and that is all that matters to me. To close this out, let's get to the person keeping time for the rest of the band. Steve flynn, ladies and gentlemen doesn't just keep time, he provides the most important element in the entire painting that Atheist put out. He add's in the absolute strength of steel the band rest on, extremely flexible and meandering through the rhythm like a rattle snake, Steve puts out an enviable show of energy and ideas. Sitting behind the kit with musicians having no predefined notions of songwriting is a challenge and the drummer does a phenomenal job of putting the band together. Sticking to an unusual approach to playing at large, the drumming on this album is a breath of fresh air which I doubt would've been possible without the collective vision the band had for Piece of Time. This album is a monolith that will forever stand the test of time.

Musical intuition and technical prowess catapulted Florida's Atheist into cult status shortly before the 1980's, a decade which was perhaps the most prolific for housing the best metal bands of all time, came to an end. It's not hard to see how Atheist achieved a following so quickly, as the band's influence from both thrash metal and elaborate jazz fusion were quick to differentiate them from their peers.

However with a band with such high quality there comes heavy scrutiny. It's, for the most part, a consensus that out of Atheist's current four releases not a single "failure" exists, but a general hierarchy is constructed for the lot nonetheless. Of this totem, Atheist's 1989 debut is generally thought of as being at the bottom. Not only was Piece of Time a preceding to the band's often-thought-of masterpiece Unquestionable Presence in 1991, but it's often cast aside as the least creative and most sophomoric of Atheist's discography.

I guess I feel that, with this particular album, something should be understood- factoring in more complexity does not always equal a better output. What I believe to be the folly of many metal bands (and tech death bands especially) is their inability to put themselves within boundaries, directly distancing themselves so far from a familiar structure that they alienate themselves from the listener, and just become not fun to listen to. Some jazz fusion bands of the 70's experienced this, and sometimes Atheist does too. Just not on this record.

In a world where the barbarism of death metal and the maturity of jazz fusion is blurred, a world which Atheist creates, it is quite hard not to step over this line. The lack of this overstepping though is what makes Piece of Time the overall best album that they've recorded, or at least on par with following work. Anything but lowest on the totem.

Piece of Time is filled with elements of what Atheist would go on to do, albeit with a much more juvenile and rowdy attitude. Each element of Atheist's sound is a multi-layered shell, with each peeling away to reveal another hidden complexity. The fusion of influences the band takes in gives way to duplicitously intricate time signatures, aided by the zealous syncopation of Steve Flynn's constantly morphing drumming. The album can slip at the speed of light from a crunching thrash-gallop easily to a grueling groove (see 'Why Bother?), as the band seems to act as a singular metal entity that can shift and change it's direction at will...all without sacrificing individuality. I for one believe that is an inexorably great feat that not many other bands have managed to replicate. This is without mentioning the inclusion of the sheer speed of each member, especially the insane pluck-age of late bassist Roger Patterson (see 'Unholy War') and guitarist Rand Burkey (best when combined with frontman Kelly Shaefer's guitar), adhering particularly well to the album's overall quality. Some particularly good tracks on here include "Room With a View', 'On They Slay' and 'Why Bother?'- all of which are prime examples of the aforementioned attributes Piece of Time has.

A masterful debut from a masterful group.

This is the debut album by one of my favorite death metal bands. This isn't their best, but it's still very good. Most of what would make their sophomore effort so elite is mostly in place. This actually might be the better vocal performance, but that depends on your tastes. The rest of the band is fining away pretty well and this record is fairly consistent.

I mention the consistency and this record is definitely that. The only song I would qualify as weak is Life. It's not bad, but it is definitely the weak link. It contains a mindless set of bizarre lyrics threatening different kinds of murder. Toss in that the riffs seem more hurried than elsewhere and it's the inferior song. On the other side of the spectrum, the two best songs are the opener and closer. Everything is pretty much in-between them. Therein lies the album's weakest point. The two best songs are great, but they would be fourth at best on the follow-up. There isn't too much on the high side and nothing as classic as Dead By Dawn or Multiple Stab Wounds. I like all the songs, but there is little I know from start to finish.

There are several aspects on here that are very different from what was normal at the time. The vocals struck me first. These sound to me something like if Dave Mustaine tried to impersonate Evil Chuck. The difference is that this works surprisingly well. This is his most vicious performance, so if you don't like his vocals, then that will hinder your enjoyment of this album. The other aspect is the jazz presence. To be frank, this album doesn't as have much of it as people imply. The bass playing probably has some of it, but not as much as Choy's did. The drummer adds to it, but this isn't near the monstrous performance he would do in the future. Taken together, this record is more stock than there successive works.

The production here is pretty good, honestly better than I would have expected. It's one of Scott Burns' earliest and it's a death metal debut. Deicide had the drum problem, but this sounds pretty good across the board. It doesn't do much for the atmosphere, but this album isn't very atmospheric. There is a slight touch of the menacing and chaotic throughout, but nothing terribly strong. On a similar topic, the cover is excellent. Each Atheist album seems to have great artwork.

There are some elements on here that are fairly derivative. Much of the vocal and guitar work can be traced back to Scream Bloody Gore. It's not severe, but it's fairly evident as well. If one could imagine a more technical and better-produced version of that album, you would achieve something fairly close to this. It is interesting to note that I don't enjoy Scream.... I believe that goes to show just how much both of those count and how much of their own touch Atheist did add to sound their own. It's also worth noting the influence that this had. While not nearly as outside of the box as the next two albums, this is still a noticeable influence on many tech-death bands. This helped sow seeds for a major subset of death metal.

I probably sound rather critical, but I do enjoy this album a great deal. I just can't help but hear it and think that they improved a good amount on the next album. That may be unfair, but that's just where I'm at with it at this point. A worthy debut for a band who had a superior follow-up. I would say that this is probably mandatory for a fan of tech-death, but a fan of death or thrash should check this out as well.

Before Atheist went all Altered Beast, and arose from their graves resulting in the soiling of their once hallowed name, they used to be such a kick ass technical thrash/ death metal band. Piece of Time was the band's debut album, and introduced Atheist's own brand of bad-assery to the world in mind-boggling fashion.

Everything about this album simply slays, this is fast and straight to the point, there are no preconceived notions of pretension, no waiting around; just off to the finish line we go, throwing riffs and guitar solo's around like no tomorrow. The rhythm section of Roger Patterson and Steve Flynn is incredible, they really do lay down the groundwork for the carnage that Kelly Shaefer and Rand Burkey unleash via their guitars.

At just over half an hour this is a quick and intense listen, that crams a lot of cool ideas into its relatively short run-time. Rand Burkey's lead guitar work is really quite impressive here, and his style was always a massive asset to Atheist. Kelly Shaefer proves he isn't a slouch at his given talents, also lending some impressive leads, as well as providing the vocals which are arguably his best, far from the sleaze that would late crawl into his style this was full on sadistic aggression.

Tracks such as the riffing madness of "Why Bother?", the head-banging fury of "Beyond" or old favorite "On They Slay" shows Atheist displaying best what they had to offer the world, with the mix being a perfect balance between instruments this sounds great, and as far as the time this was released went, Atheist were considerably ahead of their death metal competition.

Piece of Time is an impressive debut album, from a band who showed a load of promise. Unfortunate events would serve as detriment to that promise, fortunately the band delivered three brilliant albums before being buried. This was of course the first of them, and without a doubt the thrashiest, and heaviest. Any thrash or death metal fan would be quite the fool to pass this up.

It's no secret that death metal was largely a mutation of the thrash genre, but some bands held on more closely to the tenets of that precursor than others. This was as obvious in the Florida scene as anywhere else; bands like Atheist, Hellwitch and Morbid Angel clung heavily to the vicious speed and excitement of the Bay Area, but cranked those elements out to the nether reaches, simultaneously adapting the vocals into a more brutal and caustic resin. Piece of Time is without a doubt an impressive debut effort thanks largely to the monstrous rhythm section of Roger Patterson and Steve Flynn, far more intensely driven than what peers like Death or Obituary were churning forth; but I should also note that Kelly Shaefer's labyrinthine, psychotic vocals were something new as well, a less guttural application than Tardy or Schuldiner, but fully demented in their own right.

We were also experiencing one of the earliest inclusions of a heavy jazz influence to the metal milieu here, though it's not nearly so prominent as that found on the following albums. Within Piece of Time, it's manifest in the rhythm section swerves and shifts beneath the storm of hectic guitar patterns, but at the same time, it's also responsible for my biggest frustration with the album: that the band are producing such an oiled sequence of riffing overload that the tracks often feel like little more than manic waves collapsing into one another. Dissected, almost every guitar line on the album provides well plotted mayhem, but once affixed to one another they seem to go more for business than effectiveness. I also don't care much for the leads, they are wild and often uncouth transgressions which seem to benefit neither from catchy flickerings nor the wild excess that bands like Slayer and Pestilence put on the map. Piece of Time is a bewildering act of sharpened lunacy, and remains one of the best Atheist records, but it's not exactly perfect.

I do enjoy the synthesized intros to "Piece of Time" and especially "No Truth", the tracks which bookend the debut and are coincidentally among my favorites. The former is alleviated by the thick presence of Patterson's wandering bass-lines, soon joined by the frenetic and choppy, tech thrashing spasms and Shaefer's mad scientist ministrations. The latter is characterized with some wonderful melodic spikes (around 1:30) that hammer off against the punctual rhythms and the start/stop of its ghastly moshing violations. Otherwise, I really enjoy "Room With a View" for the balance of eerie, descending patterns and plunking bass explorations; "Beyond" for its flagrant force and bouncing vocal patterns that cede to screams; and "I Deny" with its swaying balance of confrontational, bludgeoning rhythms and mind teasing aesthetics. But even these have a few moments in which the tides seem to break against one another as if they were pieces being forcefully jabbed into the wrong place on the puzzle. Others like "On They Slay, "Life" and "Why Bother?" are equally head spinning, perhaps, but not so memorable.

If Piece of Time is most important for one thing, its the potential it showed for the death/thrash metal crossroads to explore new heights of frenzy, new spastic reaches of velocity. Surely we had a number of technical thrash bands like Coroner, Watchtower and Deathrow delivering masterful mergers of memorable songwriting and stunning proficiency, but Atheist set out to prove that these standards could be taken to the next extreme, the unfolding frontier that was death metal. It also largely eschews the horror/gore lyrics of other Florida death acts for a more serious examination of social and temporal constructs. I don't love all the songs here, and I don't love the production, which in my opinion lacks some depth that would have better delivered the considerable chains of notation, but its a punishing postcard from the asylum nonetheless.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

This classic band ripped up the fabric of early extreme music back in the 90s with their intriguing blend of Thrash, Death and surprisingly well integrated outside influences like jazz - although those wouldn't be nearly as prevalent until the band's sophomore effort, but that is another review. This was Piece of Time, an unholy, ripping assault on the jugular that is as intelligent and scholarly as it is thrashtacular.

The band keeps to a very high level of energy here, with all of the songs having bushels of riffs and leads stacked on top of one another. The songwriting is complex and memorable, mostly very fast, but sometimes - as on the ominous "I Deny" - slowing down to a sinister groove. The drumming is just insane, and the bass work is admirable, always challenging and twisted to the extreme. Kelly Shaefer's vocals are a raspy hiss, and while I didn't initially like them, they have since grown on me to quite a good point. The guitars are the real focal point, with their intense repertoire of thrashing, dirty riffage becoming instantly cooler when combined with the complexity on display here. It's no wonder that this album took a few plays to get into - there's just so much going on! Every song is visceral, demanding and involved, and this album might take several plays to get into. I guess if I really had to pick standouts on here, they'd be the title track, "Room with a View" and "I Deny," simply for the fact that they are the most complex and insane of all of the songs, but that isn't saying a lot because there are no weak points on here at all, every song stands out.

The lyrics here are a real strong point, as they are just well written far beyond the standard set for most metal lyrics. These lyrics are all around great; using poetic verses and razor-sharp wit to create strong, cohesive morals in them that I find pretty fascinating. Most of them revolve around the denouncing of a God or organized religion, except here it's all done very intelligently, sometimes telling a sort of story and sometimes going about it in a more direct way. This album preaches freedom of thought and the ability to question one's superiors and religion, mixing it up with some slight surprises along the way, but never deviating from their main purpose. Sure, there are some politically restless lyrics on here too, and those are not quite as creative, but they're still pretty well written, and they don't detract from your enjoyment of the music at all.

Atheist know what they're talking about; just look at the name of the goddamn band and that becomes evident. Here's an act I can respect on both a musical level and a lyrical level, and you should, too, if you like heavy music at all. Highly recommended.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

Here we are, at the pinnacle of great debut albums in death metal, and what better example of this than Atheist's Piece of Time? Talk about a relentless assault of thrashy death metal with a slight jazz influence infused and you get Piece of Time. This is arguably their least progressive and most straightforward effort which suited the era it was recorded and released in very well. This came out a year before Rust in Peace, Cause of Death, Coma of Souls, Deicide, Left Hand Path, Spiritual Healing, etc, and it arguably gives each of the aforementioned albums a serious run for their money.

There are quite a few amazing songs on this album: Piece of Time, Unholy War, On They Slay, etc. The title track gives a great introduction to how the rest of the album will play out. Unholy War gives some foresight into what we'll see more with their sophomore effort, Unquestionable Presence, with some great frantic basswork a la Mother Man. On They Slay perfectly captures the intensity, urgency and brutality that Atheist is so capable of doing well with fantastic headbanging riffs or appropriately done blistering solos. I must say, that throughout this album Atheist definitely show off their musicianship but never get wanky with it. Their overall sound on this album is very fitting and everything literally makes you wanna break things while blasting On They Slay or Beyond, for example.

The vocals are arguably one of Atheist's greatest features. Kelly has some of the best old school death metal vocals and spews some great lyrics out. The overall atmosphere is super aggressive and dynamic, this is Atheist's sound and they're here to tell you about it, and you will fucking headbang. I also wanna say that Atheist know how to portray their skills with class. Just listen to On They Slay up until the vocals come in, the drumming is out of this world and all over the place. I hate to use a Dream Theater album title, but it's basically systematic chaos, and it sounds absolutely stellar.

The remastered edition boasts some great extra features. All the songs from the Beyond, Hell Hath No Mercy and RAVAGE On They Slay demos are present here. Here we get to see how Atheist's sound progressed from their early days to the final product in their debut album, it's very interesting to see. Along with all the remastered editions of their albums it includes some great liner notes provided by band members/affiliates. Also, Kelly's great vocal delivery on songs like On They Slay with perfect lyrics such as "SOUNDS OF TWISTING FLESH, IS THE LAST THING YOU WILL HEAR" is just as metal as it gets.

In all honesty, I can't imagine I'll ever hear another debut album as demanding and crushing and satisfying as this one. Piece of Time is a true masterpiece of it's time, and has stood the test of time for many a metalhead. This album is nearly perfect and worthy of your hard earned coin.

Piece of Time, the debut album from death metal pioneers Atheist, remains one of the greatest musical journeys and truly the start of a new direction for the metal world. After Atheist recorded three demo tapes (one under the band's previous incarnation, R.A.V.A.G.E.), they hit their stride with Piece of Time. Finally getting the production they deserved and finding a home with Active Recods, Atheist released the first of three highly influential albums that would shake the fundamentals of how music was written and the limits at which it was played.

Line-Up:
Kelly Shaefer (vocals, guitar)
Rand Burkey (guitar)
Roger Patterson (bass)
Steve Flynn (drums)


Guitars: Shaefer and Burkey really did some amazing things here. Burkey (a left-handed guitar player that played a right-handed guitar) performs some blazing solo's throughout and there's plenty of them to be found here. Fast, insane, and chaotic are a few words that come to mind but not in a Kerry King kinda way. While they can be extremely fast and mind-blowing they're still highly technical and well placed. The riffs on this album are the best that Atheist did in their career and never get boring. Tempo changes and perfect timing make this an ideal album for the aspiring guitarist. Through all the butality though, the less aggressive parts are what made Piece of Time really stand out in a crowded genre. Shaefer and Burkey will race along at breakneck speed and then, when you least expect it, go straight into a jazzy interlude and right when you're used to it go right back into tearing it up. They can really stop on a dime spontaneously and you never know what to expect from these guys. Not that this isn't death metal first and foremost. The bands later releases really delved into the softer parts but this album remains the heaviest and most brutal of their career.


Bass: Roger Patterson performed the bass duties for Piece of Time. Sadly it would be his last before dying in a car accident. Roger had a unique playing style that is always heard throughout every song. Shaefer and Burkey would write their guitar parts around Rogers bass which is usually unheard of in metal. His complex bass lines would include insane speed, popping and slapping, and pounding under the music, creating the Atheist sound. He's truly a legendary bassist that should forever be remembered even if for this album alone.


Drums: Steve Flynn is excellent behind the kit and wraps up the trademark Atheist sound. Just like the rest of the band, he's really good at doing soft jazzy parts or brutally heavy parts. Steve's a skilled kick-drummer but doesn't overuse the bass drum( like so many other death metal bands). He injects it at the right moment and it never takes over the other instruments but only makes them seem all the more brutal. All of the guitars are so crazy but Flynn keeps them all together perfectly. Although his performance on their next album, Unquestionable Presence, is awe-inspiring, his work on Piece of Time is still absolutely amazing.


Vocals: This is hands down the best vocal performance of Atheist's career. Shaefer has a raspy, snarly growl that takes command of the music but doesn't overpower it. Definitely the most death metal sounding vocals are found here, as on the next album it was toned down (but still great).


Lyrics: Piece of Time was the beginning of Atheist's more thougtful and inspiring lyrics to come on Unquestionable Presence and Elements. Most of the topics deal with the band's name and often times venture into politics. It's not the typical "We hate God" or "We hate the government" crap though, their written very well to where you actually want to know what their saying. The topics fit the music well and offer perspective's on life, death, social standings, and the after-life. Not that they don't have a couple cheesy gore-filled songs (On They Slay and Life). While the lyrics are a step down from their later works they're still miles above what the typical metal band was (is) putting out.


Production: Production here is top-notch. Scott Burns and Atheist did a great job on Piece of Time. With proper funding, they finally got the production problem straightened out that plagued them on their demo's. All the instruments are heard perfectly throughout the record, which is one of the first things I look for. Nothing ever takes over the music, everything is equal.


Highly creative, totally original, and never gets repetetive or boring after numerous listens, the influential Piece of Time is an absolute masterpiece that should be in everyone's collection.

ATHEIST- PIECE OF TIME


After reading countless rave reviews for this album left and right, and reading other reviewers comments as comparing this to the godliness of late-period Death and Cynic, I decided to take the leap of faith and purchase this album (without even hearing a lick of the album's material prior to buying it).

What I heard initially disappointed me (to be honest), dismissing this as a decent, if not an average thrash-death album. But, like all true musical art, it took me countless listens (I remembered I had to listen to this at least ten times to "get it") to really grasp what the magic the music of Atheist truly is. Once I "got it", there was no turning back (I guess I was used to the primitive brutality that Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse had to offer), I truly realized the uniquely different approach Atheist had to death metal.

The opening and title song, "Piece of Time", starts off with a rather ominous intro (a usual trademark of producer/engineer Scott Burns) before the song just chaotically bursts into a whirlwind of thrash godliness. This song is a good prelude to what PIECE OF TIME has to offer, having many stops and turns, awesome random guitar riffs and leads, and godly basslines. "Unholy War" is the closest thing to a modern death metal song the album has, having a very fast chaotic speed and Kelly Shaefer's witch-like growl. "Room With A View" is one of my favorite songs on the album, with its somewhat politically pessimistic lyrics on how corrupt the hospital system can be. Other standout tracks are "On They Sley" (which rivals anything Slayer has accomplished) and "No Truth" (the only song that represents Atheist's namesake).

Although I am not a musician, I can clearly hear some wonderful things coming out of the bass (I would put Roger Patterson right up there with Steve DiGiorgio and Tony Choy). The guitars are equally impressive, often dueling with each other. Also, Kelly Shaefer does a truly unique vocal approach to death metal, he sounds like Dave Mustaine meets John Tardy on this album, although I think he growls like a sissy on certain songs (listen to "Room With a View" and "Beyond" to hear what I am talking about).

The production is decent , its squeeky clean Morrisound Studio treatment probably has something to do with it. Scott Burns was still learning his trade at this point, and its nowhere near what he would do with his later projects (Sepultura, Suffocation, Malevolent Creation).

Piece of Time is a good album, and you can't go wrong with getting this. This album was a catalyst to what many technical bands would do later on; late-period Death being the most common reference point, but when I hear this album, I also hear Arsis, Illogicist, and even Martyr, so I guess you can say Atheist predicted a musical trend that was ten-fifteen years away.

All in all, I recommend you should get this.

Atheist, to me, will go down as arguably the best death metal band of all time. I have yet to hear a single song I dislike on any of their albums. Their career may have been short, but how sweet it was. They achieved a sound that no one could quite replicate. Cynic may have been forging to a similar path, but Atheist definitely stood out from the pack even more.

Their first record is a deadly and thrashy assault showcasing the band's musical diversity and instrumental talent as well as uncanny songwriting skills. No note ever seems out of place, no progression ever seems forced, and there are simply no bad moments. From the title track to the closer ''No Truth'', Atheist manage to rock your socks off and make you scratch your head in amazement at the same time.

Thrash riffs blend seemlessly with funky basslines that form groovy, yet heavy passages where you can just rock out. Then there are moments when the band dazzle you with their technicality, such as the incredible guitar work on ''I Deny''. My favorite here has to be the classic ''On They Slay''. This track has one of the best rythm sections ever, and yet moves along like a train about to reak havoc on the townspeople.

The band sounded like they were playing live. There is a feel of fun when you listen to this. Nothing sounds forced or contrived. The drum and bass work are phenomenal here. This is sadly Atheist's only full length record featuring the amazing Roger Patterson. The man's basslines are really what carry the music throughout the record's entirety. Described as ''musical calculus'' by Kelly Schaffer himself, the basslines are phenominally technical, yet make the outmost musical sense. Steve Flynn's drumming is nothing short of spectacular, although not as blinding as on ''Unquestionnable Presence''. The drums are very technical, yet almost sound improvised as it seems effortless for the talented skinsman.

As usual the guitar work is right on the money, technical yet melodic and groovy at some points. The playing is also all over the neck, and in standard tuning, which lets the other instruments breathe a little. Vocally, Kelly was really coming in his own here. His vocals have a high range yet don't feel too forced, which suits the music just fine.

The songs are short fast, and absolutely amazing. Any technical metal fan should check this out.

This is some nice fucking death metal here... very technical, and very thrashy - the two things I love most in death metal, and they are here in great quantities. The songs tend to be short and to the point, focusing on blasting you senseless with three or four major riffs, with an underlying frantic drumwork, and bass that complements the guitar almost as a lead instrument. The songs for the most part tend to follow this pattern - very fast, without becoming senseness in sound.

The great thing about this album is that it grabs you right from the start - there is a catchiness here shared by other great old DM albums like Scream Bloody Gore or Seven Churches. Then, beyond the initial impression, what gives it a real sense of lasting value is the variety in the guitar/bass riff work - listen closely and you'll hear something new every time.

Highlights... "Why bother?" has some great headbanging parts, and also the almost hissing vocals are quite nice, and besides, who else uses the word "octogenerian" anyway? Also, for sheer fucking thrash assault value, the title track... "PIECE OF TIME!!! PIECE OF TIME!!!" - or, for similar reasons, the end.... "THERE'S NO TRUTH!!" It's pretty damn sinister, one of the most evil-sounding albums I have heard, oddly enough, and I've heard lots of black metal. This is more independent-thought metal, from a lyrical perspective, more a Satanic album (according to original Satanist principles) than any album that has worshipped the horned one, or goat-blaspheme-necroejaculated over the inverted grave of Jesus, Satan and the Holy Shit... then again, look at the band title. That pretty much sums it up.

Great stuff, really. You'll like it, again and again, for many different reasons. One of the best death metal albums ever.