ATHEIST — The Best of Atheist (review)

ATHEIST — The Best of Atheist album cover Boxset / Compilation · 2017 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
aglasshouse
Ever wanted to own a major chunk of Atheist's discography without needing to purchase 2005's The Collection for upwards of $60? Fear not, a solution is here!

After seven long years following Atheist's last studio album Jupiter, the band finally decided to digitally release their first ever compilation album to date- and what a compilation it is! In true-to-form fashion Atheist grab the most sonically insane and cosmic songs from their studio albums (as well as a live version of 'Mother Man' from Live At Wacken 2009) in a massive 22-track corpus. Forthright this puts The Best Of leagues ahead of other death metal contemporaries' works like Death's Best Of in '92 or Nile's Legacy of the Catacombs in '07, granted both rather good releases, simply from the vastness of the song selection. Especially considering Atheist's relatively small discography, 90 minutes of pure action may seem a bit hefty at first, but for only $10 (roughly €8.50 for you Europeans) from Bandcamp it is a fairly free-and-easy deal compared to another compilation that would front you the same price but with half the content.

This album is a perfect introductory release for beginners and also a good pickup for familiars. The only gripes I have with it are the fact that there's no physical release, because I prefer lending actual tangible material to a hypothetical beginner depending on the circumstances, and the fact that my favorite song 'Why Bother?' from Piece of Time is not present. Maybe they took the title a bit too literally?
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aglasshouse wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Eh, I guess. I classify it as a kind of pseudo-compilation in comparison to this standalone one. Perhaps "the first compilation released on its own" would have fit better, but I think that the original sentence still works when taking the aforementioned into account.

On the topic of Atheist making more albums- they've been getting a bit more active on Facebook (albeit with someone a bit incompetent running it) with getting out merchandise and this greatest hits, so I also hope for new stdio work in the future.

UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
It´s not exactly their first ever compilation, as disc2 of this one is also a "greatest hits": http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/album/atheist/unquestionable-presence-live-at-wacken(live)

It´s nice to see there at still new releases coming from the Atheist camp, although I would prefer a new studio album SOOOONNNN.......

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