From France comes crawling ATAVISMA with its cryptic form of Death Metal. Paying no heed to the contemporary style of the genre, the band wallows in darkness, in its own slime and mud. It’s almost doomy, given its slow, dragging pace but it’s most reminiscent of INCANTATION although the sound owes a lot to the earlier Finnish bands too. I’m reminded of WINTERWOLF in its over-the-top, hulking demeanour and at other times even FUNEBRE and CONVULSE. It’s rather simplistic and unformed however, relying on catchy albeit slow hooks and heaving parts. This is a demo-level band doing everything right where the aesthetic is concerned. The pace is however too sluggish and the sound a little too hackneyed to derive any real thrill out of it. What it is, is a competent debut, much like say CONTAMINATED from Australia, following in INCANTATION’s footsteps. Even if the band isn’t trying to sound exactly like INCANTATION or any of its particular eras, it’s like saying SUFFOCATION had no influence whatsoever on the brutal Death Metal genre the way INCANTATION affects this dark Death Metal subgenre. It’s most reminiscent of the early Craig Pillard era of INCANTATION and that’s a good thing, especially when merging some scary and primitive sounds from the Finnish scene. There’s not much point in playing slower because the intent is different. It’s no WINTER or THERGOTHON – clearly the band excels in playing faster, meaner Death Metal with the heart being in the right place. The vocals are the biggest I’ve heard in recent times, hearkening back to the CARNAGE days, the sound is absolutely crushing and cavernous, and the music reeks of promise. www.facebook.com/atavisma.band, http://atavisma.bandcamp.com, http://nihilistic.voila.net