Year: 2022
Total Time: 20.54
Label: Massacre Records

Here we are dealing with the re-release us “Unspoken Names (Demo 1991)” by the German Death Metal veterans ATROCITY. This release contains 4 demo versions of songs that later appeared on the band’s legendary album “Todessehnsucht”.

I have to admit that I learned about ATROCITY several years later, with the covers they made to 80s classic pop/italo-disco/wave songs on their albums “Werk 80 I” and “Werk 80 II”. The mastermind behind this band, Alexander Krull (let’s not forget that he is also behind LEAVES’ EYES) has changed its members countless times and has played everything: from Grindcore, and symphonic Death Metal to Gothic and Industrial! And he continues the same tactic until today!

In this release, we have to do with pure technical Death Metal. The great potential of the band was obvious from this demo and it fairly led them to the glory and recognition that came very soon, as they signed to Roadrunner! All the 4 songs of this release, namely “Sky Turns Red”, “Unspoken Names”, “Defiance”, “A Prison Called Earth” are at the same high level. The very hard and classic Death Metal vocals of Alexander Krull stand out immediately, and the same do the incredible technical and synthetic skills of the guitar duo Richard Scharf and Mathias Roderer. DEATH and MORBID ANGEL are definitely their influences, but listening to them again after so many years, bands like CYNIC, ATHEIST, DEATHROW come to mind as well. The production sounds very good, despite the 30 years that have passed since then (of course, that material is remastered).

All the above mentioned have little importance, because this release is aimed basically to the collectors and the fanatic fans of the band, since the 4 tracks exist as I said in “Todessehnsucht” – in different and more elaborated versions- so somebody could say that they are unreleased. Let me also point out that I finally saw a very nice cover in this album, because ATROCITY really have some of the worst covers ever in the entire metal genre in all of their releases! Anyone can find “Unspoken Names (Demo 91)” on limited red vinyl (500 copies) and in a digipak as well. So if you are one of those collectors that I mentioned before, just invest in this release without fear!

Rating: N/A
Editor: Dimitris Argyrakis
Related Link: ATROCITY – Official Page