Unquestionable Presence Review
| Band | |
|---|---|
| Album |  Unquestionable Presence |
| Type | Album (Studio full-length) |
| Released | November 24, 1991 |
| Genres | Technical Death Metal, Progressive Metal |
| Labels | Active Records, Metal Blade Records |
| Length | 32:29 |
| Ranked | #11 for 1991 , #391 all-time |
Album rating : 91.4 / 100
Votes : 29 (4 reviews)
Votes : 29 (4 reviews)
June 12, 2021
As far as pushing progressive themes like technicality, odd-time signatures, and intensely difficult musicianship, Atheist pretty much took the crown when they dropped Unquestionable Presence. They took elements from Watchtower in general and Death’s most technical moments and shot it all up to 11. Every song is one of those multi-movement marvels where so much is going on and it changes so often that your mind is constantly struggling to grasp it. People say there’s a Jazz influence here – maybe, but I don’t think that was intentional. Atheist never stray into chaotic or improvisation territory, as everything is so exact it’s almost the antithesis to Jazz.
The mind-boggling music of the album does have a weakness though. Personally, I prefer Atheist’s debut, Piece of Time, for one simple reason; it was riff-focused. It still had a ton of extremely technical work, but first and foremost they had awesome and memorable riffs. Unquestionable Presence, for all it’s power and might, fails to grab me with any significant moments. Over 20 listens on and I still couldn’t tell you one song from another. At least this complexity assures the album will always be enjoyable front to back, never in danger of burning itself out.
The mind-boggling music of the album does have a weakness though. Personally, I prefer Atheist’s debut, Piece of Time, for one simple reason; it was riff-focused. It still had a ton of extremely technical work, but first and foremost they had awesome and memorable riffs. Unquestionable Presence, for all it’s power and might, fails to grab me with any significant moments. Over 20 listens on and I still couldn’t tell you one song from another. At least this complexity assures the album will always be enjoyable front to back, never in danger of burning itself out.
Track listing (Songs)
| title | rating | votes | video | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mother Man | 4:34 | 95.7 | 7 | Audio |
| 2. | Unquestionable Presence | 4:07 | 92.1 | 7 | Audio |
| 3. | Your Life's Retribution | 3:17 | 91.4 | 7 | Audio |
| 4. | Enthralled in Essence | 3:38 | 86.7 | 6 | |
| 5. | An Incarnation's Dream | 4:53 | 91.4 | 7 | |
| 6. | The Formative Years | 3:30 | 94.2 | 6 | |
| 7. | Brains | 3:41 | 94.3 | 7 | |
| 8. | And the Psychic Saw | 4:45 | 95 | 6 |
Line-up (members)
- Kelly Shaefer : Vocals & Guitars
- Rand Burkey : Guitars
- Tony Choy : Bass
- Steve Flynn : Drums
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fritz2home 90/100Dec 22, 2019 Likes : 3
이 밴드의 쟝르는 여러개의 음악 색깔을 아우른다.
어우르는 쟝르가 많을 수록 음악적 특성을 모두 잘 살려서 하모니를 이루어야 하는데 말이 쉽지
무척 어려운 시도이고 도전이다 보니 이런 류의 음악작업은 여러쟝르를 꽤뚫는 각 쟝르별 음악적 깊이나
이해도 특별해야 가능한 작업... Read More
Divine Step 100/100Oct 12, 2018 Likes : 3
테크니컬 데스 메탈 원탑.
난 이거 이후로 지금까지 '테크니컬' 딱지 붙은 밴드중에서 이 이상의 앨범을 낸 밴드를 본 적이 없다
그래서 그런지 테크니컬에 대한 내 기준이 너무 높아진 것 같기도 (어이!)
테크니컬해지는 것은 어렵다. 넣고 싶은 것들을 죄다 넣는다면 순식간에 난잡해지... Read More
Elements Review (1993)
SilentScream213 75/100Feb 8, 2022 Likes : 1
Elements is, without a doubt, an incredibly fascinating album. Atheist retain their insanely technical and progressive style of playing, but traverse even further into progressive music, reaching the avant-garde. The music itself isn’t too bizarre, but the amount of styles crammed into any given song quite frankly is. There’s a lot of jerking around here, start-stop techniq... Read More
