G.O.E.

It was regrettable that Atlain did not leave a huge impact on the scene. They created two technically well done full-lengths while operating at the interface of further German bands such as Rage, Noisehunter or Accept. Nobody could ignore that in particular the final song of "G.O.E." was highly influenced by the comparatively successful band of Udo Dirkschneider and Wolf Hoffmann. Just pay attention for the emphasis of the lead singer during the verses and compare it with the phrasing of Dirkschneider at "Balls to the Wall". But let´s start at the beginning.

In accordance with a widespread practice, Atlain kicked off the album with an up-tempo song. A speed metal riff and short drum rolls introduced a simple yet catchy opener. Peter Müller´s voice did not fully convince, because it did not seem to be very voluminous. He alternated between thin sprechgesang and high-pitched screaming. His performance was not bad, but he could definitely not compete with the efforts of comparable German singers such as Ralf Scheepers (Tyran´ Pace) or Peter Burtz (Steeler).

The opener was not the only song which showed the band´s penchant for speedy rhythms. For example, the title track took the same line. But traditional heavy metal pieces were not missed out. What all songs had in common was a very solid riffing and a keen sense for the right amount of melodic elements. Fortunately, the technically competent band did not feel the need to celebrate orgies of musical or lyrical brutality. Atlain just published an authentic album without showing any signs of adolescent behaviour.

The production was much better than that of the debut. Everything was well balanced. The full and fairly dense sound gave the compositions the chance to reveal their full potential. Furthermore, the album scored with a very good flow. Atlain sounded - with limited exceptions - less Teutonic than competitors such as Grave Digger and this led to a smooth overall picture. But do not get me wrong, "G.O.E." did not suffer from a lack of heaviness. Commercial considerations did not play an important role.

My urgent recommendation is to lend an ear to this record which was totally free from non-metallic influences. Apart from its best tracks, namely "Waste", "Guardians of Eternity" (which features the most convincing performance of Müller) and "Break that Wall", it offered a lot of interesting and thrilling parts like the chorus of "Demons Feast". Apart from the fact that not enough was being done on advertisement, I see only one reason for the failure of the album. Due to the likable down-to-earth attitude of the musicians, it lacked a bit of spectacular moments. Nevertheless, fans of heavy and / or speed metal will have a good time with this document of early German metal.

Somewhat buried in time along with countless other bands who played this style, Germany’s Atlain only got around to making two albums, this being their second. I suppose there is a reason they never made it big, for if one were to stack this album up against every other stylistically-similar album circa-1985 not many people would pick it as one of the best. Regardless, Atlain, despite really only playing a single style of song, were certainly a competent act, and G.O.E. comes across largely as an enjoyable slab of 80s metal.

M-A has them down as power metal, but that would be the early-mid 1980s definition that us youngsters, barely born when this thing came out originally, would perhaps personally label as mid-paced 80s thrash. A valid comparison might be a slowed-down Paradox with bits of bands like Omen tossed in for good measure. The overall sound is a very clean (yet still undeniably 80s analog) and precise one, avoiding the “dirty” thrash sound that some bands espoused at the time.

Singer Peter Müller could easily be described simply as a typical 80s metal singer, though I might actually place him a little higher than many of his peers. He does a fair amount of wailing using a voice not especially suited to the higher pitches, but his mid-ranged style is done very well, mixing equal parts melody, aggression, and just-plain-metal 80s howling. It was surprising to see he apparently never went on to do anything else. The same goes for the guitarists as well, for their playing, while nothing that was new to the style, again is typical 80s metal – memorable and well-played, if not all that flashy. The bass and drums are passable, though drummer Chris Efthimiadis, who would later play with Rage, keeps things simple almost to a fault.

The main drawback is the repetitive nature of it all, Atlain essentially having reworked a single song into nine. G.O.E. simply sounds much too similar on the whole to be a top-flight contender. They’re always cruising along at, say, an 85-90% pace – never slowing down except for a couple of intro bits, yet never speeding things up too much either. Efthimiadis gives us nothing more than a Maidenesque gallop on drums – no double bass in sight, and what we do get could have been phoned-in by any number of drummers. Not that he’s a bad drummer, but it’s just the lack of variety in the drums that extends to the songwriting itself. True, this sort of Germanic metal was never really known for variety, but there’s a reason we look back today and say, “yeah, that stuff was good, but not THAT good”.

Metalheads who can’t get enough older speed and thrash metal can go ahead and add Atlain to their collections, though someone looking to get into the genre can find numerous other starting locations all much better than this. The 2002 re-release is pretty easy to find, though it’s rather crappy as these things go, with a meager single page insert containing only a poorly written biography of the band. I scored my copy on eBay for something like five bucks, easily worth the price. Just approach it understanding there’s a reason Atlain fizzled after only two releases – they just weren’t memorable enough to stand out in all-too-inundated scene.