German death metal outfit Atrocity has been around since 1985 and has released 10 albums in that time, their 10th and latest album being ‘OKKULT III’. It is the third and final instalment in the band’s ‘OKKULT’ trilogy. This latest instalment looks to tackle the dark side of human history and looks at stories such as that of Józef Cyppek, a serial killer from Poland in the 1950s; this is explored in the song ‘Cypka’.
The album opens with ‘Desecration of God’ and is equally epic and brutal. This is a great tone setter as the initial chanting at the beginning of the song gives feelings of something grand in scale before breaking into a brutal, more fast-paced rhythm helped by the foot-tapping guitar riff. This is accompanied by symphonic elements throughout that help to accentuate the thematic elements of the album and also create nice breaks in the song. Lyrically the song revolves around inner darkness and the uptaking of a different god which given the song title fits quite well.
This carries over into a big strength of the album, which is its theme and its ability to stay consistent to it. Lyrically things follow the general themes of dark desires, religious perversion and the supernatural. Many of the songs are read as poems. When looking at the lyrics, things are kept abstract but not hard to follow.
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The song ‘Lycanthropia’ for example, does this a lot; painting images by using short sentences such as “Tempting Witchcraft. The Devils Pact”. I think some variation in the writing would have been welcome, the song ‘Cypka’ has an interesting inspiration, but the lyrics are fairly simplistic. It fits the theme of the album, but it feels like a chance was missed to tell a more interesting story, especially one based on real events. My favourite song lyrically is ‘Bleeding for Blasphemy’ it paints a picture of a knight singing to god that, adds an interesting element to the song, and makes it stand out among the other songs.
The production of the album is overall quite good, everything fits together and blends well, and the vocals, guitar and drums are all well defined in the mix. I do struggle to hear the bass in the mix, however with death metal, it is not usually a stand out instrument. The haunting effects added by Katie Halliday are nice additions on some songs, usually being utilized at the beginning and end.
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They could of taken more advantage of this to break up songs throughout and add variety. The use if symphonic elements in songs like ‘Desecration of God’, ‘Malicious Succubbus’ and ‘Teufelsmarsch’ all fit the theme and make these songs some of the most musically interesting on the album. Though the guitar tone maintains a nice grittiness and even Gothic quality at times, I find in the faster-paced songs that more symphonic elements would’ve complemented it nicely. The songs do manage to have nice riffs and will break up songs with solos or changes of pace. However, this did become repetitive, and it would have been nice to get some different melodies or tones with the songs. Alexander Krull has a brutal voice but one that is able to enunciate words without it sounding just like noise, it also blends with the other elements well. It would have been nice to have more variety in the growl, such as changing the clarity or pitch.
Overall this is a very solid album, with some highlight songs such as ‘Desecration of God’, ‘Malicious Succubbus’ and ‘Bleeding for Blasphemy’. The thematic elements are kept consistent and add an interesting layer to the album that makes it more interesting to listen to than other Death Metal albums. However, it also seems like a missed opportunity to do more with the themes they had, such as changing the lyrical structure or having more diverse melodies. If you’re a fan of death metal and also enjoy some symphonic elements then it’s definitely worth a listen.
Atrocity: Facebook
Release Year: 2022
Label: Massacre Records
Category: Album
Country: Germany
Reviewed by Billy Poulopoulos
