AtomA – Skylight (2012)

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With a very interesting and bombastic sound, today we have Sweden’s own AtomA and their debut full-length “Skylight” out on Napalm Records. In this release we have a trio of musicians crafting a unique musical experience that has way too much stuff going on at certain times. While the band’s sound is lush and powerful, it also feels a bit misguided and confusing, making this release a interesting experience but ultimately not cohesive enough to be fully praised (at least by us).

Opening with the ritualistic “AtomA”, this track has a very ‘tribal’ feeling to it with a mixture of futuristic soundtrack elements and some electronic stuff thrown into the mix. As an opener it helps set the listener’s mindset to something completely different, but it also feels a bit convoluted. “Skylight” capitalizes on the initial build up with some more extreme atmospheric elements and powerful guitars. The drumming is very well crafted, but sounds a bit drowned in the mix. The clean vocal sections are pretty solid and provide a nice ethereal feeling to the band’s brand of music.

One interesting note on this release is the participation of Christian Älvestam (ex-Scar Symmetry, Solution .45, etc) on rhythm guitars and back-up vocals. “Hole in the Sky” has a very cool older Heavy Metal vibe with some more modern elements, making the opening of the track very inviting and engaging. In this song is where we start to notice that the band’s sound feels a bit linear and somewhat repetitive. Things are changed up a bit with the ballad-esque “Highway”, which indeed has some Post Rock influences.

 Thing go out to left-field with the very weird “Bermuda Riveira”, a track that is quite nice and enjoyable, but would fit better on a Darkwave/Atmospheric project. The more traditional “Resonance” is our favorite track since it has a more standard structure and the Melodic riffing is excellent. The drums are a bit mechanic (even though it is a human drummer) but can be easily ignored when shifting the attention to the intricate bass guitar track.

Another spaced out song is “Solaris” and its weird rhythm and ethereal elements. We would imagine this song would be the best backdrop for a Sci-fi porno movie. “Rainmen” has a nice Post-Rock feeling, and the clean vocals are fitting but kind of contrasting to the earlier tracks presented in this release. With a remix feeling, “Saturn and I” again turns things around and merges some atmospheric elements with electronic elements. While the track itself is entertaining, it also feels thrown into the release. At least the band closes off the album with the very engaging and melodic “Cloud Nine”, our second favorite track of this release.

It is clear that the musicians behind AtomA can make good songs, but it feels like “Skylight” was just tossed together in an effort to have a full-length release ready. The flow of the album is very convoluted and a few tracks feel like a completely different band playing. We see promise in some of the Post-Rock and atmospheric elements of the band and hopefully they can get all their stuff to sound more connected in their next release.

Band: AtomA Album: Skylight
Label: Napalm Records

Release: March 30th (Europe) / April 3rd (USA)

Oficial Site myspace
Genre: Experimental Metal

Country: Sweden

Rating: 80/100
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