Atavisma are a French death doom metal band with a crusty, belched sound reminiscent of Disma and Funebrarum. The song structures are predictably settled into Incantation style atmospherics and heavier release found in that band’s post 90’s discography. So, for all intensive purposes I would typically skip over Atavisma’s latest EP because I’ve heard so much of this stuff over the years; ‘On the Ruins of a Fallen Empire’ make up for taking the well-trodden path simply because they do it so well. I don’t mean that they nail the occult dungeon-reverb death/doom sound because the real redeeming quality here is the riffs and their arrangements. They’ve fully made good on the promise of their first demo ‘Where Wolves Once Dwelled’ and I’m hoping they’re working on a full-length soon.

Like Disma, they’ve spun in some Swedish death metal influences that add weight to slower sections that would otherwise drag. The b-side “Amid the Ruins” crawls out of a Krypt‘s style riff alternately with a Dismember style up-turn that highlights the record for me. It’s hard to really dice up a two song cassette too finely because it seems intended to give some examples of what the band does, and to be fair they do it well. The real selling point for me with this EP is really in the riffs. If you’re into death metal for the rhythm guitar ideas, these guys are damn good at stringing together powerful and menacing death metal guitar ideas. Their sound is part of the deal, though so if you don’t like Incantation-alike production you might overlook it.

Inoculating their own plague. 3.75/5.0

<strong>Help Support Grizzly Butts’ goals with a donation:</strong>

Please consider donating directly to site costs and project funding using PayPal.

$1.00