ATLASES – Between The Day & I
Release Date: 2nd June 2023
Label: Lifeforce Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Modern Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, Djent, Modern Metal, Metalcore.
FFO: In Flames, Erra, Ghost Brigade, Mastodon.
Review By: Metal Miguel
Atlases hail from Finland, and in the grand scheme of things, are relatively new to the band scene, with their first album released in 2019, but they have kept on steady and straight and released consistently since. With their splicing of progressive tunes and modern style metal that is being referred to as modern post-metal, which I’ll be honest, and say I’m not overly fond of that term, much like Djent, but I guess it does fulfil a description, but I would say there is a lot more to them than just a label. The album has so many nice touches to it and references metal from all eras in it – heavy tones, melodic sweeps, orchestral notes, and electronic sounds are all used to great effect, and you can no doubt pick out your own favourite bands of yesteryear that may or may not have influenced them.
The album grabs you from the get-go and has that solid sound washing over you, the way “Mors Principium Est” used to start their albums, but it has that spliced sound inside where you just can’t place the song, maybe “The Contortionist” or maybe “In Flames”, either way, it has a stop-start feel, the way a narrative in a film tells you the unwinding story of the protagonist, and you get to be a part of that journey, feeling the swells of emotion and heavy beat downs that are placed strategically throughout the album to give you a good sense of their musical ability. But it’s the variety of the journey; pace, heaviness, melody and the overall feel that it gives you and like I previously mentioned it has this narrative arc, to the point there is even a track called “Intermission” which a great audible journey placed in the middle of this ever-changing musical story, which has a very “Vangelis” approach to the piece like you’re watching a flashback scene in Bladerunner. It then starts from a lower level and takes you back on this progressive journey again, and you have no real sense of what is coming next – even after a few listens. It has all the appeal of something new every time, and you notice more and more subtleties as you re-listen to it, which you don’t get in a lot of albums these days. I’m sure I could list similarities all day, but I’d rather you take the bands’ journey for what they are and while they clearly influenced by Nu-Metal to Progressive metal, it stands on its own quite easily with well-crafted songs that take you on a journey. It’s heavy but in a subtle way, and it gives you a sense of something more with the variety of songwriting and how they deliver these progressive and through-composed tracks it finishes as confidently as it starts but like most journeys, the opener sets the pace and a good strong one at that, but they finish the album off with an inverse of that, allowing you to feel the emotional side of the band and the conclusion of their story, which has this lovely blend of heavy and melody, which best reflects the rest of the album, but it also signals an end, it feels right, you feel like you have been through the journey and I like that.
There’s not much to say on the downside, and anything I have found isn’t enough to add to my review – it is what it is. You’ll like it, or you won’t, but I’m willing to bet it has something for everyone, and you should give it a go. 
(4 / 5)
