Devastation - The Third Attack

Who would've thought of such an odd combination?

Atanatos, that's who. A formidable five piece (well, four, as Bianka does very little besides some atmospheric stuff) hailing from good 'ole Germany, these guys know how to pack a punch and when to do it perfectly.

They have the good sense of melody some thrash metal bands like, they have the brutality most power metal bands lack, and they have good production values which stray from black metal. In other words, they combine the best aspects of each genre into one cluster of "holy shit, this is good."

First, I'll do my usual crit style...

Guitars: A very thick tone. Gritty, meaty, and snapping. Perfect for the black metal and thrash bits (basically the whole album here). Some riffs are rather atypical for power metal though, with the quickly picked, slowly changing power chord progressions. They have a distinctive thrash feel later though, combining the hyperspeed open string picking with the standard power chord breakups, you get a rather standard, but excellent, guitar sound. The bass os fairly there, nothing too amazing from what I hear.

Vocals: Very, very good. Reminiscent of Tom Angelripper on 'Agent Orange.' The harsh black metal rasps are rather great, used within the powerful riffs and the verse make a deadly combo. The shouts and yells so common to thrash are more often found in the choruses and/or intros, and are just as good I think. Jan can belt.

Drums: Standard. Rather good tone, though.

Production: This production is rather good. Nothing ridiculously compressed (THAT means you Andy Sneap) and nothing that resembles concentrated fizz. The guitars are rather high in the mix with the drums, then the vocals, then the bass and then the miniscule keyboards.

Overall: Well, it's a good album with only a few flaws. Such as the standard drumming, the meh keyboards, and the first and third minute long interludes.

Favorite songs:

Before the Storm
Blood On My Swordblade
Nightfall
Land In Agony
To the Final Battle