### Atanab: Black magic

#### 29/08/11 || cadenz

Colombia. That South American provider of coffee and druglords since the dawn of time has now managed to spawn a black/death metal band, and raise it to adulthood. We are of course speaking of our main course of the review, Atanab. Born in 1993, with a discography of three full-lengths (including the embarrassingly/hilariously typo-titled “Goddes of the Flesh”) and an EP, Colombia’s finest are now releasing their third album, “Black Magic”, again. Since the information received and gathered about this whole band is minimal at best, I have no clue if this “re-edition”, as Metal Archives dubs it, is a re-recorded, remastered, remixed or just plain reissued version, but it seems to hold two new songs. Anyway, who cares, as you’ve probably never even heard of this band, let alone heard the original version.

“Black Magic” is a relentless slab of raw black/death/thrash metal. You know, the South American extreme metal way. Not a happy riff in the bunch, the atmosphere is kept dark and menacing throughout the record by way of tremolo riffage in minor keys, furious drumming and high-pitched shrieking. The tempo is high and the primal, unpolished edge to the riffs gives off a distinct ‘90s feel. The production is quite messy and the drums are too prominent in the mix, with most riffs drowning in a sea of cymbals and snare. Quality-wise, the execution is OK. The drummer has some interesting chops while the string-benders come across as adequate, of what one can hear of them. The reverb-induced vocals are too witchy to my liking, but help in maintaining the album’s savage aura.

Apart from the sub-par production, “Black Magic”’s biggest problem is the lack of killer riffs. Not much pops out, except for some unorthodox arrangements that almost sound like the Colombians are tripping over their instruments, but it seems like it’s on purpose since they play ‘em exactly the same way every time. I think that is the usual way of describing prog, if you’re not into it. Which you should be. What this record definitely could have lived without is the title track’s intro, which consists of someone (the vocalist, I presume) rambling, in extremely broken English, about Satan, the occult and Jesus dying, while birds chirp and wolves howl in the background. For two fucken minutes. Exotic. And fucken shit.

All in all, Atanab have churned out a disc’s worth of raw and unpolished “old”-sounding extreme metal with witch croaks for vocals and not much else by which to remember it. The bestial atmosphere is the selling point, but that ain’t always enough. Like now.

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Mighty Hordes Productions
- Website: Atanab MySpace
- Band
- Atanab: instruments and vocals

- Tracklist
- 01. Is Sentence of Satan (Intro)
- 02. Sons of Evil
- 03. Fury
- 04. Nightmares With Him
- 05. Rites of Death
- 06. Black Magic
- 07. Witches of the Jagua
- 08. Alma Oscura
- 09. Divine Sin
- 10. Born of Blasphemy Soul 1666 (instrumental)