Atrament - 'Eternal Downfall' (Album Premiere)

March 2, 2016

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As a genre-defining trait, the “d-beat” is about as meat and potatoes as one can get, and yet nothing “gets me going” quite like that specially syncopated drum pattern. Some might use it too much, others might underutilize its special powers, but, in the end, the d-beat rules supreme. Worshiping at the altar of Discharge’s finest moment is Atrament, a young Bay area blackened death metal band who may just be a crust band in disguise.

Featuring current and former members of Abstracter, Black September, Moral Void, Caffa and Necrot, Atrament are no strangers to the world of the extreme, from both a punk and metal perspective, and World Downfall demonstrates strong use of both perspectives. Some might throw the term “metalpunk” around to describe thrash bands who wear a lot of GG Allin and Black Uniforms shirts. Fine, but Atrament’s sharp-edged blackened-death-metal-d-beat-crust-punk juggernaut so much more effectively embodies “metalpunk.” Filled to the brim with chunky, catchy riffs, frontman Mattia Alagna’s signature snarl, and, of course, my beloved d-beat, Atrament might not be reinventing the wheel, but they can craft a damn fine one.

Eternal Downfall is slated for a March 4 release on digital, LP, and cassette formats via Broken Limbs Recordings, Argento Records, and Sentient Ruin Laboratories.

—Jon Rosenthal

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