Shortly after the announcement of the work on the fourth BEHIND THE SCENERY album, there is an acoustic sign of life from the BTS camp! In 2008, Simon Abele (BEHIND THE SCENERY) had the idea for a musical project to pay tribute to one of his all-time heroes: Chuck Schuldiner (DEATH). Thus, Abele began writing and recording the first ATHEAN material in the style of the technical DEATH phase.
The material was originally not intended for a professional release. However, when Simon confronted his former bandmate Chris Mrosek with the first demos, they decided to give the project a more professional touch.
Christoph brought his influences into the project, and the music gradually departed from the pure DEATH tribute paths. With the addition of BEHIND THE SCENERY singer Holger Speidel to the lineup, the material became more brutal and aggressive. Throughout the EP, you can still find the typical Chuck leads and licks, but traces of bands like CARCASS and American and European progressive melodic death metal in general can also be discovered.
“Good songwriting has always been the top priority of the entire creative process,” says Abele. “However, if you are just waiting for the next dose of 260 bpm blastbeat chaos, then ATHEAN might not be the right band for you. Writing and playing metal is no longer a competition for volume or speed. Basically, everything has already been said and done in these areas. When Eno, Chris, and I recorded this EP, we focused on groove and on shaping the songs so that they grow with listening, completely independent of the genre they belong to.”
After an instrumental called ‘Journey Above the Calm Aeons’, ‘Passage’ is the opener of the EP, which features a crystalline, natural production by Immanuel Rein / Panache Production Studios. ‘Fragmented Convictions’ follows. Interesting footnotes about this piece:
Mrosek's lead was created under the influence of the first PSYCHOTIC WALTZ albums, and Alex Guth (STORMWARRIOR, AEONS CONFER, BÖRN AGAIN) plays a great shred solo at the end. The EP concludes with its title track, and if you like bands like the later DEATH or CARCASS, with their transparent, eclectic songwriting, then ATHEAN might just be the right fit. By the way, the band logo was designed by Christophe Szpajdel (EMPEROR).
‘Main-Mast of the Voyaging Earth’ by ATHEAN will be released worldwide on December 28, 2011, by Serial Six Records in digital and physical formats.
Tracklist:
1 Journey Above the Calm Aeons (instr.) (3:04)
2 Passage (4:10)
3 Fragmented Convictions (4:21)
4 Main-Mast of the Voyaging Earth (5:12)
ATHEAN are:
Holger Speidel - Vocals
Chris Mrosek - Guitars
Simon Abele - Guitars
Sirajul ‘Eno’ Haque - Bass
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