History Main / Atheist

This can refer to:
* [[UsefulNotes/{{Atheism}} A useful note]] pertaining to the belief
* Music/{{Atheist}}, the heavy metal band

There are also a couple tropes with this in the name:
* FlatEarthAtheist
* HollywoodAtheist

* A person that adheres to UsefulNotes/{{Atheism}}

[[redirect:Music/{{Atheist}}]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atheist_3299.jpg
[[caption-width:345:I don't think you understand.]]

Atheist is a TechnicalDeathMetal band from Florida. Indeed, a pretty good argument could be made that they are ''the'' Tech Death band, along with Music/{{Death}} and {{Cynic}}, the latter being frequently compared to Atheist. In a sub-genre obsessed with brutality and authenticity, it may be surprising that one of the most acclaimed bands is a difficult, jazz-influenced band, but nevertheless, Atheist is one of the few bands that is regarded by almost all metalheads as genuinely great.

Atheist formed in 1984, first as Oblivion, and later as R.A.V.A.G.E. At this point their sound had a great deal more in common with ThrashMetal than DeathMetal, which didn't even really exist yet. Nevertheless, traces of their Jazz influence could still be found in the music of that era. They released their first album, ''Piece of Time'', in 1989. By this point, they had established their signature style of Death Metal/Jazz Fusion. While they were critically acclaimed and highly influential, early audiences expected them to sound more like CannibalCorpse, which they toured with at least once, and they were frequently booed by said audiences.

While they were recording their second album, ''Unquestionable Presence'', their bassist, Roger Patterson, was killed in a car accident. While they had a number of demos already recorded, the album was far from complete, and they needed another bassist. They had no choice but to recruit Tony Choy, who had also worked with Cynic, in order to record this album. Widely regarded as a classic, both the original recordings and the new ones, ''Unquestionable Presence'' is arguably their best-received album, in which the Death Metal and Jazz influences were roughly equal.

Before finally breaking up in 1993, Atheist recorded one last album for contractual purposes. ''Elements'', released in 1993, was perhaps even more important to Technical Death Metal than their previous albums. Released alongside Death's ''Individual Thought Patterns'' and Cynic's ''Focus'', it made 1993 a very good year for Tech Death. Upping the Jazz influence, it even contained an instrumental with no metal influence (Samba Briza), though it still managed to rock every bit as hard as anything before it. The band broke up after releasing it, by this point widely regarded as one of the finest Metal bands of their day, both by old-school purists and fans of the emerging technical/experimental genres that would develop during the 90s and beyond.

Lyrically, Atheist had little in common with their contemporaries, and anticipated many more contemplative Metal bands. By ''Unquestionable Presence'', their lyrics looked to the future, to ethereal and esoteric imaginings no doubt influenced by marijuana. ''Elements'', on the other hand, focuses on nature, and specifically, on descriptions of various so-called elemental forces, though not limited to traditional ones. In this respect, they are perhaps more similar to ambient Black Metal bands such as WolvesInTheThroneRoom or {{Drudkh}}, which deal quite often with nature, than they are to other Death Metal bands, which focus on gore and brutality far more than natural elements.

The band has gotten back together, and released a new album in 2010, called ''Jupiter''. [[YourMileageMayVary Consensus seems to be that it's quite good, but not up to snuff with their older stuff]]. It's noticeably heavier than their older albums, but other than that, nothing's really changed.

Their Discography Includes:

* ''Rotting in Hell'', (Demo) 1985
* ''On They Slay'', (Demo) 1987
* ''Hell Hath No Mercy'' (Demo) 1987
* ''Piece of Time'', 1989
* ''Unquestionable Presence'', 1991
* ''Elements'', 1993
* ''Jupiter'', 2010

Not to be confused with, well, UsefulNotes/{{Atheism}}.

!!Atheist provides the following trope examples:

* AuthorAppeal - Aside from nature, Atheist generally loves transcendental lyrics that focus on [[HitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy life, the universe, and everything]], with "Enthralled in Essence" being a good example.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome - While most of the band's output since ''Piece of Time'' qualifies, a few songs in particular stand out, such as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyBGXEoe2ks Mineral]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um1CdqXoLFM Enthralled in Essence]], and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pJ_l8m2zYo Your Life's Retribution]]
* [[ContemptibleCover Contemptible Photo]] - While the covers have aged well, most of the band photos (including the one at the top) are better suited to a GlamMetal band than any death metal band.
* FandomRivalry - While very few people dislike either band, Atheist vs Cynic wars are not unknown. They're pretty tame compared to most fights over metal, but they can get fairly heated at times.
* FridgeBrilliance - Atheist's second album is called ''Unquestionable Presence''. Think about it.
* GreenAesop - While most of their nature songs avert this, "Mother Man" plays it straight, which is a bit odd for death metal.
* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness - Either a hard 9 or a soft 10.
* ReligionRantSong - "No Truth", "Fraudulent Cloth", "Faux King Christ". Really, what did you expect considering the band's name?
* ReplacementScrappy - Decisively averted with Tony Choy. While most fans liked Roger Patterson better, Choy isn't disliked by many of them, partially because he was just a session member, but also because he happens to be a ''really'' good jazz fusion musician.
* SeinfeldIsUnfunny - Compared to Gojira, {{Meshuggah}}, or ''Obscura''-era Gorguts, it's hard to see just how innovative and unusual Atheist was at the time, though even in that context it's easy to like the band.
* {{Tear Jerker}} - Kelly's account of the night of Roger's death; it can be read in the remastered ''Unquestionable Presence'' album booklet.
* TechnicalDeathMetal - One of the first bands of the genre, possibly ''the'' first.
* TropeMaker
* ViewersAreGeniuses - In order to even ''begin'' to understand what Atheist plays, one would need a working knowledge of thrash metal, jazz, progressive rock, funk, and latin music. Try listening to "Mother Man" from ''Unquestionable Presence'', for example.

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<<|{{Musicians}}|>>

Atheist is a TechnicalDeathMetal band from Florida. Indeed, a pretty good argument could be made that they are ''the'' Tech Death band, along with Music/{{Death}} and {{Cynic}}, the latter being frequently compared to Atheist. In a sub-genre obsessed with brutality and authenticity, it may be a surprise to realize that one of the most acclaimed bands is a difficult, jazz-influenced band, but nevertheless, Atheist is one of the few bands that is regarded by almost all metalheads as genuinely great.

Atheist formed in 1984, first as Oblivion, and later as R.A.V.A.G.E. At this point, their sound had a great deal more in common with ThrashMetal than DeathMetal, which didn't even really exist yet. Nevertheless, traces of their Jazz influence could still be found in the music of that era. They released their first album, ''Piece of Time'', in 1989. By this point, they had established their signature style of Death Metal/Jazz Fusion. While they were critically acclaimed and highly influential, early audiences expected them to sound more like CannibalCorpse, which they toured with at least once, and they were frequently booed by said audiences.

While they were recording their second album, ''Unquestionable Presence'', their bassist, Roger Patterson, was killed in a car accident. While they had a number of demos already recorded, the album was far from complete, and they needed another bassist. They had no choice but to recruit Tony Choy, who had also worked with Cynic, in order to record this album. Widely regarded as a classic, both the original recordings and the new ones, ''Unquestionable Presence'' is arguably their best album, in which the Death Metal and Jazz influences were roughly equal.

Before finally breaking up in 1993, Atheist recorded one last album for contractual purposes. ''Elements'', released in 1993, was perhaps even more important to Technical Death Metal than their previous albums. Released alongside Death's ''Individual Thought Patterns'' and Cynic's ''Focus'', it made 1993 a very good year for Tech Death. Upping the Jazz influence, it even contained an instrumental with no metal influence (Samba Briza), though it still managed to rock every bit as hard as anything before it. After releasing it, the band broke up, by this point widely regarded as one of the finest Metal bands, both by old school purists, and by fans of the emerging technical and experimental genres that would develop during the 90s and beyond.

The band has gotten back together, and released a new album in 2010, called ''Jupiter''. [[YourMileageMayVary Consensus seems to be that it's quite good, but not up to snuff with their older stuff]]. While it's noticeably heavier than their older albums, other than that, nothing's really changed.

* AuthorAppeal - Aside from nature, Atheist generally loves transcendental lyrics that focus on [[HitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy life, the universe, and everything]], with "Enthralled in Essence" being the best example.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny - Compared to Gojira, {{Meshuggah}}, or ''Obscura''-era Gorguts, it's hard to see just how innovative and unusual Atheist was at the time, though even in that context, it's easy to still like the band.

Atheist is a TechnicalDeathMetal band from Florida. Indeed, a pretty good argument could be made that they are ''the'' Tech Death band, along with Music/{{Death}} and {{Cynic}}, the latter being frequently compared to Atheist. In a sub-genre obsessed with brutality and authenticity, it may be a surprise to realize that one of the most acclaimed bands is a difficult, jazz-oriented band, but nevertheless, Atheist is one of the few bands that is regarded by almost all metalheads as genuinely great.

While relatively little info has come out, the band has gotten back together, and intends to release a new album in 2010, apparently called ''Jupiter''. Given their history, expect CrowningMusicOfAwesome.

While relatively little info has come out, it appears that the band has gotten back together, and intends to release a new album in 2010. Given their history, expect CrowningMusicOfAwesome.

Atheist is a TechnicalDeathMetal band from Florida. Indeed, a pretty good argument could be made that they are ''the'' Tech Death band, along with Music/{{Death}} and {{Cynic}}, the latter being frequently compared to Atheist. In a sub-genre obsessed with brutality and authenticity, it may be a surprise to realize that one of the most acclaimed bands is a difficult, jazz-oriented band, but nevertheless, Atheist is one of the few bands that is regarded by almost all metalheads as genuinely great.

Atheist formed in 1984, first as Oblivion, and later as R.A.V.A.G.E. At this point, their sound had a great deal more in common with ThrashMetal than DeathMetal, which didn't even really exist yet. Nevertheless, traces of their Jazz influence could still be found in the music of that era. They released their first album, ''Piece of Time'', in 1989. By this point, they had established their signature style of Death Metal/Jazz Fusion. While they were critically acclaimed and highly influential, early audiences expected them to sound more like CannibalCorpse, which they toured with at least once, and they were frequently booed by said audiences.

While they were recording their second album, ''Unquestionable Presence'', their bassist, Roger Patterson, was killed in a car accident. While they had a number of demos already recorded, the album was far from complete, and they needed another bassist. They had no choice but to recruit Tony Choy, who had also worked with Cynic, in order to record this album. Widely regarded as a classic, both the original recordings and the new ones, ''Unquestionable Presence'' is arguably their best album, in which the Death Metal and Jazz influences were roughly equal.

Before finally breaking up in 1993, Atheist recorded one last album for contractual purposes. ''Elements'', released in 1993, was perhaps even more important to Technical Death Metal than their previous albums. Released alongside Death's ''Individual Thought Patterns'' and Cynic's ''Focus'', it made 1993 a very good year for Tech Death. Upping the Jazz influence, it even contained an instrumental with no metal influence (Samba Briza), though it still managed to rock every bit as hard as anything before it. After releasing it, the band broke up, by this point widely regarded as one of the finest Metal bands, both by old school purists, and by fans of the emerging technical and experimental genres that would develop during the 90s and beyond.

Lyrically, Atheist had little in common with their contemporaries, and anticipated many more contemplative Metal bands. By ''Unquestionable Presence'', their lyrics looked to the future, to ethereal and esoteric imaginings no doubt influenced by marijuana. ''Elements'', on the other hand, focuses on nature, and specifically, on descriptions of various so-called elemental forces, though not limited to traditional ones. In this respect, they are perhaps more similar to ambient Black Metal bands such as WolvesInTheThroneRoom or {{Drudkh}}, which deal quite often with nature, than they are to other Death Metal bands, which focus on gore and brutality far more than natural elements.

* {{Tear Jerker}}: Kelly's account of the night of Roger's death; it can be read in the remastered Unquestionable Presence album booklet.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny - Compared to Gojira, {{Meshuggah}}, or ''Obscura''-era Gorguts, it's hard to see just how innovative and unusual Atheist was at the time, though even in that context, it's easy to still like the band.