Relapse Records have released the remasters of the 3 most essential CD's to have in your music library .... All three are from one of my favorite bands ... EVER:

ATHEIST

The reason I say "Essential" is that from all three albums you can get your fill on Emotion,Talent and just Pure Originality. Nothing says it better than their official website:

www.officialatheist.com

Piece of Time

The classic debut that brought Atheist to the front of the international metal scene's collective conscience. Almost six years in the making, Piece of Time combines the bands death metal roots and youthful exuberance with their growing pension for technical composition and performance. Instant classics such as On They Slay, I Deny, and the title track are ever bit as visceral and urgent now as they were upon release. Piece of Time captures Atheist in its formative years, perched on the precipice of greatness, and has emerged as a cult classic that has stood the test of time.

Unquestionable Presence

Atheist's sophomore record is what a metal legend is made of. Written with bassist Roger Patterson, who unfortunately never lived to see his work recorded, Unquestionable Presence is classic heavy metal interwoven with jazz and a highly articulated melodic sense to create music of timeless brilliance. Upon its initial release it emerged as the most important technical metal record of its time, and to this day remains a crucial yardstick by which daring, ambitious, and progressive metal records are measured.

Elements

The final chapter in the story of a band many years ahead of its time. Its complex arrangements fused disparate sounds such as delicate jazz, deep funk grooves, latin rhythms, flamenco guitar stylings, and samba interludes with blistering metal chops to create music that confused as many as it pleased. A fitting swansong for the unique entity that ATHEIST had become, Elements was almost equally regaled and reviled for the ambitious ideas it put into motion. In the years since the band split Elements has been recognized as a crucial piece of ATHEIST history and a marker for the wider acceptance for heavy, dynamic, progressive metal.

Here's to Kelly Shaefer,Steve Flynn,Roger Patterson and Rand Burkey for creating some of the most pioneering music in a time when people thought Nirvana was something to talk about!!

edited/published: CMP