Hallucinations

I remember that I was interested in the first full-length of Atrocity at the time of its release. I also remember that I listened to the album a couple of times. But honestly speaking, the fascination of this kind of death metal remained a mystery to me. Even now, almost three decades later, I do not really find access to the material of this debut. Whenever I think I understand it in its full dimension, it's just a hallucination.

Of course, it is positive that the formation tried to find its own niche in the death metal cosmos. I also don't want to ignore the technical skills the dudes obviously had. Additionally, I must mention their enthusiasm. Everybody thought they are authentic heralds of death metal and maybe this was true back in 1990. Shortly afterwards, nobody thought this anymore... However, let's stay in 1990. Atrocity perform on their debut an extremely progressive, sometimes very hectic, mostly inaccessible form of death metal. Despite the surprisingly straight "Fatal Step", this music is the exact opposite of this nearly cosy type of death that bands like Unleashed or Bolt Thrower made socially respectable. Perhaps this configuration is typical for a love-it-or-hate-it record, but I disagree. I appreciate the ambitions of the band, but I do not fall in love with the result.

Atrocity rather perform different parts than homogeneous tracks. Roughly thousand autonomous sequences per song appear. Sometimes they fit together, mostly they don't. I have no clue why the group felt the need to wallow in this form of technical arrogance. Would have been better to integrate a comprehensible structure from time to time. Not to mention a memorable chorus. But Atrocity evidently hate anything that pretty normal music consumers like and therefore they wallow in complex, absolutely non-conventional patterns. A few number of comparatively straight sequences brings the listener back on track every now and then, but this is always just a short pleasure and the name of the second number, "Life Is a Long and Silent River", reveals nothing but a strange form of cynical humour in view of the unorthodox pieces.

Apart from the confusing song structures, the formation works with the usual tools. The lead singer's raw voice avoids pure growling, but it also does not sound extraordinary in the given context. The same applies for the guitars, they are not overly low-tuned and have sometimes almost a thrash metal sound, but they also do not hurt the rules of the sub genre. Unlike the drums which play every ten seconds a new rhythm, the bass remains more or less silent in the background. By the way, the production can be described as a typical Nuclear Blast product of the early nineties, not bad, but pretty emotionless. In summary, this is a special work for special people who have another taste than me. From my point of view, this album in its entity is hard to endure and please do not ask for highlights. On the other hand, as mentioned before, I respect the ambitions, the technical skills and the courage the new formation had back in 1990. So do me a favour and understand my evaluation as a compromise I made with myself.

Listening to the album here and other fully accomplished visionary works like Nocturnus’ “The Key”, Disharmonic Orchestra’s “Expositionsprophylaxe”, Pestilence’s “Consuming Impulse”, etc. I can’t help but marvel at the inordinately early arrived maturity within the death metal roster… probably the only music genre that managed to hit such creative peaks even before it was legitimized as a standalone entity within the music industry.

The genre quickly outgrew the collaborations with its brethren thrash, and thanks to the mentioned albums embarked on a journey around the technical/progressive branch that reached heights deemed impossible… again, quite early. For some mysterious reason, death metal had attracted some of the greatest musicians to ever walk this earth who swiftly elevated it to the level of art by at the same time leaving quite a few options open as well for the future practitioners to add something to it; a noble thing to do by all means.

I’m watching now this really tough, WWE-inspired tussle between the mentioned “The Key” and these “Hallucinations” here, trying to guess prematurely which opus would come victorious as the ultimate game-changer within the good old death metal confines… I'm trying to recall feedbacks and opinions of fellow metal heads through the years regarding those two in order to make a more educated guess…

and here they are, these atrocious Germans, edging out the Tampa-bred nocturnal animals by a few notches, emerging scathed and burnt from this battle, but content enough with the final result. And it can’t be any other way as if there ever was an audacious, eye-opening, literally hallucinogenic listening experience within the early stages of the death metal scene, it was the one here.

It’s really hard to imagine what compelled the band to come up with this madness; one really has to be careful here cause if approaching this album without the requisite precautionary measures, he/she may have his/her subconscious seriously violated, what with some of the most dizzying, spiral-like beginnings in metal history on “Deep in Your Subconscious”, the bouts of more linear brutality only aggravating the surreal setting with the unrestrained monstrous growls of Alex Krull circling around, looking to finish off those who have somehow managed to survive this aural insanity. On the soothing side, there’s seldom adherence to outrageous brutality, the time and tempo changes so frequent that there’s a very slim chance for a pummelling blast-beating etude to last beyond the few-second spasm. Headbanging opportunities come aplenty, mind you, especially on short bursting technicallers like the twisted nervy jumper “Life Is a Long and Silent River”, but don’t get misled by the short length of “Fatal Step”, for instance, a shredder of the highest order, a cunning vortex-like configuration that will wrap around you like a serpent with its seductive mid-paced bounces.

Even more chaotic, seemingly less controlled, outbursts like “Abyss of Addiction” have their inevitable charm due to the very aptly twisted melodic walkabouts the latter throwing the bridge across the Atlantic in an involuntary nod towards “The Key” again, only that the riff-density here is simply overwhelming, and there are no keyboards here to save the hapless listener. The keyboards, or rather organ tunes, appear eventually, but only on the “Last Temptation” (yes, the closer), as an atmospheric accompaniment to another whirlwind of dazzling rifforamas, the rhythms changing in such a quick succession that the fan will thoroughly savour a mandragora-like screaming virtuoso lead section as a needful respite. Labyrinthine, multi-layered musicality peaks early here as it would be a most unenviable task for one to try and beat the myriad utterly bizarre time-signatures on the title-track, or the adventurous abrupt bridges on “Defeated Intellect” which jump from a stomping doomy section to a dazzlingly brutal one just like that, in a nearly impromptu-like manner, not to mention the otherworldly super-tight, also impossibly melodic, riff-knots and the spastic, schizophrenic blast-beating insanity frequently inserted, bringing the drama to a nearly hysterical, fever-pitch culmination.

And yet, despite the inordinate amount of ideas and audacious musical decisions this effort doesn’t sound incoherent or randomly assembled, not even for a split second. The early-90’s metalhead would either listen in awe and stupefaction at every surprise around the corner or would dismiss this opus as the ultimate exercise in highly-stylized chaos, something which the dazzling brutality movement (Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Defeated Sanity, etc.) by all means touched later, in both terms of execution and (non)structuring, but never really elaborated on… cause elaboration on this over-the-top musical carnival wasn’t actually possible. Everything from the not fully equipped yet technical/progressive death metal kitchen has been exhibited in its full grandeur, covering the utmost detail, even these polemical keyboard/organ inclusions that made “The Key” time and again such an open-for-debate recording. Nothing has been missed, literally, not as a nod to already past feats, there were no such before it; but solely as a possible template for the valiant and wayward musicians to follow in the future.

And some by all means tried their hands on similar mazey rifftastic wizardry, Atheist and Gorguts following quickly with “Unquestionable Presence” and “Considered Dead” respectively, among other lesser known works although it was Atrocity again who lined up the whole death metal fraternity and made them listen in reverential submission to another lesson in twisted music magic that was the sophomore. Two grand missions accomplished within a very short span of time seemed more than enough for a duty fulfilled to society in this or any other life so it didn’t come as such a surprise, I guess, the shift in focus witnessed later in the 90’s. A shift that didn’t make the diehard death metal fanbase very happy, but one that won the band many new fans.

The good old death was honoured, and not only with a few timid nods, on the guys’ latest “Okkult”; it seems to me a nude, by no means a dress rehearsal for a potential hallucinogenic cocktail based on the old recipe… yeah, keep on dreaming, you incorrigible air-header! Like a marvel of the kind can possibly occur again in this lifetime…

Atrocity's first full length album was the ground-breaking and incredibly unique "Hallucinations", which still stands today as one of the best technical death metal albums ever written. To think that this band came out of the gate with such a mature release is simply astounding, and it really goes to show how talented many death metal musicians are.

In 1990, not many bands were experimenting with death metal. Atheist had already foreshadowed their progressive future with a couple of the songs on 1989's "Piece of Time", but that album was still mostly pure, in your face death metal with much of the progression still yet to come. Death would also begin to hint at a slightly more melodic and progressive direction with "Human" in 1991, and a couple years later Cynic could be seen combining elements of death metal with jazz fusion and progressive rock on "Focus", but one album which preceded most of these albums and is sadly overlooked is Atrocity's "Hallucinations".

If you are looking for an album which mixes jazz with death metal, or whatever, you'll not be interested in this. This is totally death metal through and through, with no other genres at all, and it is "progressive" in the sense that it is unique and innovative, not in the sense that it goes from a blast beat and death growl one second to a mellotron and clean vocal the next! When you listen to a song like "Life is a Long and Silent River", the intro alone should be enough to convince you that this is no "normal" death metal band, with many of these ideas being far weirder and more unexpected than anything bands like Cynic, Atheist, or Death ever did, because they are not simply taking other genres and combining those ideas with death metal. Instead, they are taking death metal and using it to create very weird and interesting ideas, if that makes any sense. Listen to the title track, "Hallucinations", or "Abyss of Addiction" for a good example of how weird some of the riffs and ideas sound. However, while they may be weird, they also work. These songs don't come across as a 3-minute exercise in "who can come up with a weirder idea", because they are memorable and strong riffs. The songs are structured so that many of the stranger ideas will be bridged by a simpler, more straight-forward riff, or written so that the weirder riffs have a catchy or memorable hook which makes them fun and interesting to listen to beyond the 'what the fuck?' factor. The opening to "Defeated Intellect" is a good example, or the absolutely amazing breakdown/chorus to "Hold Out (Until the End)" which is easily one of the strongest moments on the whole album, with lyrics you will not be able to hold yourself back from chanting ("HOLD OUT-UNTIL THE END-RESIST-AND LIVE").

The album is also keeps itself pretty straight forward at times. In addition to the weird unexpected, we also get a healthy dose of the familiar (but always loveable) thrashy old school death sound we are used to hearing in landmark albums like "Altars of Madness" or "Leprosy". The vocals of Alexander Krull help to reinforce this, because he growls with the classic, Chuck Schuldiner-esque sound, with a handful of deeper grunts reminiscent of Kam Lee. However, there are plenty of classic death metal riffs to be heard on here in every song, just listen to "Fatal Step" for a good example of that.

The lyrics are another great point here. Instead of gore or Satanism, we have a concept album about drug abuse and addiction. The album starts out with a bang with some of the most shocking lyrics I have ever read in a death metal song ("Deep in Your Subconscious") before settling down into something less shocking or disturbing, but no less tragic (well, depending on how you look at it, I guess) for the remainder of the story. I won't spoil the events of the story, but rest assured that this album is not condoning drug abuse. It's a concept album about a little girl whose life is ruined by the substance, and in my opinion the band puts the message across with a great deal of maturity, and the lyrics really make you think. There is a bit of broken English to be found, but the lyrics are still pretty well written (if not straight forward).

This is the first album I have ever heard of Atrocity, but I'm already very excited to hear what "Toddesucht" (or however you spell it) will sound like! This was an amazing masterpiece of an album and certainly something which no one who loves death metal should miss out on. I don't have any complaints at all, so I will rate it with a 94%. Hopefully you will buy this album and love it as much as I did!

To be honest, this is a very inaccessible record, even to the seasoned death metal fan. It doesn’t matter how much prog metal you listen to, or how you listen to Cryptopsy and Wormed whilst meditating because nothing much can prepare you for what you will hear on this CD. I was appalled at first, I couldn’t gather why a group of people would make such horrible music intentionally. However when you become accustomed to the haphazard rhythms and the wild tempo changes, you begin to appreciate the complexity of the music. And adore it.

Considering the technicality of the album you’d expect them to list Gorguts and Atheist among their influences but in fact it’s vice versa. The album was released in 1990, which makes it all the more impressive and Luc Lemay even went so far as to cite this and its predecessor “Todessehnsucht” as his main sources of inspiration for the much acclaimed “The Erosion of Sanity”. Of course Atheist released “Piece of Time” in the same year but the complexity and overall intensity of “Hallucinations” makes it a far more captivating listen.

Unlike other experimental bands, Atrocity don’t mess about with jazz sections or clean settings. The sound remains firmly rooted in the death metal camp for the whole album and a gloomy, decadent atmosphere shrouds every song despite the dynamic song structures. This is authentic head banging material. At times we have blistering pace (though sometimes to the extent that we don’t have a notion of what is going on) and at other times we have the slow, crunchy breakdowns which are reminiscent of early Autopsy. Sounds like every death metal band ever right?

Wrong. They adhere by the genre’s rulebook but contort it to their unique and unpredictable vision, which makes this album a classic in its own rights. One of the more prominent features of this record are the drums; loud in the mix and played in such eclectic and discordant fashion that it is hard not to acknowledge their awesome power! Also note the bass. Its inclusion is both surprising and welcome, another reason to look upon this album as a landmark.

It is a concept album (believe it or not) about drug addiction. I won’t ruin it for you but I will tell you that the lyrics tell a sombre and repulsive tale (especially in the opening track “Deep in your Subconscious”). Considering their origins, Atrocity write quite well in English and for the most part avoid clichés and cringe-worthy lines (unlike certain black metal groups). The vocals are a mix between the average Floridian growl and a more traditional Teutonic /Scandinavian styling. It sits well amongst the baffling yet ingenious musicianship and is one of the more attractive elements of their music to unfamiliar listeners.

This is a must have album for anyone who is actively interested in seeking out good music. However, the album has stopped being reproduced so finding an original copy will be no walk in the park! But do not lose faith, friend, I’m sure you can uncover some songs by talking to the right people. It’s one of the best examples of innovative and creative playing in a genre which is sadly becoming so stagnant.

“A classic death metal album”, no less, is how I would describe Atrocity’s debut that was released back in 1990 (the original pressing that is). It may not be the most known death metal album of the time but it certainly deserves a review here because I think many death metal fans would like this a lot. Imagine a mixture of traditional early 90s death metal with the technicality of Atheist (“Piece of Time” era) and early At the Gates. Add to this the brutal side of Cynic and you’ll get an idea of what “Hallucinations” is all about. Another band that comes to mind when listening to this is Viogression, Alex Krull’s vocals are at times very similar to those of Brian DeNeffe (however, “Hallucinations” was released before Viogression’s debut). The music is really well played and in general the songs are brutal, technical and even progressive with tons of tempo changes, unpredictable arrangements and at times weird and off-the-wall guitar riffs. The songs aren’t arranged in the typical verse/bridge/chorus way, you never know what will happen next in the music when you listen to this album. A song may e.g. start fast, then stop abruptly and go into either doom mode or become technical as hell before again continuing in yet another manner. In this respect “Hallucinations” reminds me of Darkthrone’s “Soulside Journey”, where the same kind of schizophrenic feeling is present in the music.

For example, “Fatal Step” begins with simple Autopsy-like riffs, then comes the chorus with its sudden grind bursts, then a technical bass line starts after which the guitars join in playing something totally different than the bass and so on. ”Hold Out (to the End)” contains a part that’s extremely similar to a part on At the Gates’ track “Neverwhere”. Makes you wonder if the At the Gates guys had listened to their share of Atrocity, I bet they had, hehe. The final track, “Last Temptation”, has a church organ-type keyboard solo in the middle. Wouldn’t have expected that from an old school death metal album but here it is anyway.

Lyrically “Hallucinations” is a concept album, telling the story of a girl who gets sexually abused as a child, becomes a junkie and eventually dies of an OD. It does take a while to get into this album properly due to the technicality of the music but when you do, you can’t but worship it. My only complaint is about the production, the snare drum is too loud and the guitars are a bit too low in the mix but this is a minor thing. If you listen closely enough, you’ll catch all the details. “Hallucinations” is a must for all fans of frantic technical death metal.