UMUR
"Apocalyptic Nature Fury" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Canadian, Montreal based death metal act Atheretic. The album was released through Galy Records in May 2006. It´s the successor to "Adhesion, Aversion..." from 2001 and features a couple of lineup changes. Guitarist Stéphane Genest has left and hasn´t been replaced, and as a result Dany Leblanc handles all guitars on the album. Lead vocalist Wayne McGrath has also left and he is replaced here by Alexandre Leblanc. In addition to Dany Leblanc the two remaining members from the debut lineup are Jean-Sébastien Gagnon (drums) and Dominic Lapointe (bass). The latter would subsequently find underground fame and success with Augury and Beyond Creation...
...and if you´re familiar with Lapointe´s busy jazz/fusion influenced bass playing on releases by the above mentioned acts, you won´t be surprised that his playing on "Apocalyptic Nature Fury" is just as virtuosic and brain meltingly crazy. The music style on the album is technical and relatively brutal death metal, featuring many tempo changes, lightning fast guitar riffs, technical precision drumming, and some relatively brutal and not particularly intelligible growling vocals. The whole thing is delivered with great skill and power, and Atheretic are just one of those acts where it´s hard not to drop your jaw when listening to their high level musicianship.
"Apocalyptic Nature Fury" is not an easily accessible release. It´s furiously fast-paced, aggressive and brutal, and there is no sign of a melody anywhere. So it´s a harsh release which requires time and patience to get into, but it´s also a release which is quite rewarding given enough spins. There are many killer riffs, great drumming, and surprising bass licks coming out of nowhere to feast upon. Sure the growling vocals are a little one-dimensional, but they don´t ruin anything and they are decent enough for the style. "Apocalyptic Nature Fury" also features a raw, powerful, and well sounding production, and upon conclusion it´s through and through a high quality technical death metal release. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.