Review Summary: Unbedingt erforderlich!
Atrocity’s second album
Todessehnsucht, which was mistakenly changed against the bands wishes to
Longing for Death when it was released in America, is not only a pinnacle of German death metal but also holds a pretty damn high place amongst the legions of death metal bands fusing death/thrash and technicality into a cohesive sound. Forming in 1988, the band quickly built a reputation for a progressive crossover style of death metal with the release of 1990s
Hallucinations and also gained some noterity for working with H.R Giger on the cover art as well. It was shortly after in 1992 that
Todessehnsucht was released - a more focused, tighter sound that simply never quite caught on to the momentum that American death metal bands were enjoying at this point in time (particularly a little Florida band that had just released
Human a year before).
Atrocity were almost too proggy and too technical for their own good at this point in time, giving way to another few reasons as to why they had so little exposure when indeed, they should have been swimming within the emerging death metal scene. Regardless of the fact, this album is a brutal examination into how off-kilter song structures are to be done in death metal. Sandwiched between the samples, keyboard interludes, and just unusual song flows, one can unearth a myriad of brutally proggy riffs that dazzel through dizzing song structures (much in vein with Death but even better) and are definitely the heart and soul of
Todessehnsucht. Through all the guitar mayhem, bass lines and a fantastic rhythm section help fuel and smooth out these acrobatic riffs with ease and a sense of prowess. What shouldn’t go unnoticed though is that this a vicious album from start to finish and what better way to exemplify this trait than with a vocalist who has a range of growls that rivals cookie monster after a night of snorting cookie crumbs. In other words, he absolutely kills his lows and rages with a great tone throughout the album.
As much as I can sit here and praise
Todessehnsucht, it will never do this album justice. Just do yourself a favour if you consider yourself a death metal connoisseur and give it a listen. Absolutely essential!
