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ATAVIST  II:Ruined  CD   (Profound Lore)   15.98


Atavist make their negatory nature clear with the inscription "no life worth living" that is printed in simple white lettering across the black panels of

the inside of II: Ruined's massive digipack case, and yet they somehow find moments of intense beauty in their extended, single-minded quest for the

all-devouring riff and total sonic catharsis. Atavist's second album has been issued by Profound Lore for North America, in an 8-panel digipack that features

evocative photography of rotting buildings and urban decay, which perfectly capture the dank, depressing atmosphere that soaks into these seven tracks.

They've foregone song titles and replaced them with roman numerals that signify each new chapter, although the final track is actually a cover of Grief's "I

Hate The Human Race". The hallmarks of extreme sludge are in place on all of these tracks, massively detuned guitars, hideous riffage sustained into

eternity, horrific mangled screams, an almost inpenetrable nihilistic worldview, but I think that Atavist's take on tectonic sludge is delivered with a sort

of precision that sets them apart some....you can hear the influence of bands like Grief, Khanate, and Eyehategod in their riffs and gluey tempos, but the

band plays each riff and delivers each drum strike with a methodical, controlled power, and tie some of the longer, 15+ minute pieces together with

minimalist guitar drones and dusty acoustic strum, a pretty post-rock outro that finishes the fifth track, and some tranquil piano playing on the fourth

track is contributed by Justin Greaves (of Crippled Black Pheonix, Electric Wizard, and Iron Monkey). Incredibly crushing and hateful sludge doom on par with

fellow Brits Moss and Marzuraan, served up as a single suite of slow motion hatred like a black hole version of Corrupted's El Mundo Frio.