Year: 2020
Total Time: 1:01:26
Label: Self-funded
It is not a bad thing to have music idols. It is not a bad thing to admire artists for their work. On the contrary, it is very nice and honouring for the bands you have been influenced from, to be mentioned through your personal efforts. To make the listener think and bring in mind that specific artist. At the end of the day, pretty much EVERY band and EVERY artist have such role models. All this is nice and positive. But… for all this… there has to be a limit… or not?
ATAVISTIA is a quartet from Vancouver, Canada. They basically started as a solo project by Matti Sippola. An artist with unending love for the Finnish school of melodic/symphonic death metal and, especially, for the music “offspring” of Jari Maenpaa, WINTERSUN. In 2017 he released their first work, entitled “One Within The Sun” and it was not just a tribute to the first two albums of the Finnish band, but a literal copy. Same riffs, same atmosphere, same voice style and same drums. Matti probably thought “it should take some time for Jari to release something new, so let’s keep the fans happy”.
This year they present their new work that bears the title “The Winter Way”. Has anything changed? Starting with the positives, Sippola is now surrounded by some very good artists. Maeden on the guitars and, mainly, Sepulveda on the drums, with his imposing drumming have given a new fresh sound to their music, with more epic elements. But that is that. Nothing new and nothing different. They have offered no new touches to this album’s composition. Six terribly long songs (the shortest one is 9 minutes) that sound like taken from Maenpaa’s hidden drawers. Especially, “The Atavistic Forest” could be the twin brother of the “Awaken From The Dark Slumber (Spring)”.
I am not often that sceptical with a review. This is because what we have here are some very good musicians. But I have never seen such a copy-paste band before. Even tribute bands that exist only to show their appreciation to the bands they follow have some unique personality. In this situation here we only see the love of an artist for his idol. They should simply confess that they are loyal followers and get on with it. It will be a lot fairer but, most importantly, more honest.
P.S. “Matti, what should we use for title and album cover? We need something to stand out…”
“Hm…let me see, what is that I have in my hands? INSOMNIUM – Winter’s Gate. Not bad.”
Rating: 2/10
Editor: Nikos Vlachos
Related Link: ATAVISTIA – Bandcamp Page
