Gnostic - Splinters Of Change
2005

Track Listing:
1.  Violently Calm
2.  Wall of Lies
3.  Corrosive
4.  Splinters of Change
5.  Mind Lock

Line-Up:
Vocals:  Kevin Freeman
Guitars:  Sonny Carson, Todd Simpson
Bass:  Stephen Morley
Drums:  Steve Flynn

Website:  www.gnosticmusic.com

Shev's Rating:  A
Average Album Rating:  A

Shev's Review:
Formed out of Atlanta in January of 2005, Gnostic (not to be confused with the utterly absurd black metal band out of Texas) is the first band since Atheist for old drummer Steve Flynn.  For personal reasons, he dropped under the radar of the music world while he pursued other goals and challenges.  None the less, he's back and working with a tireless crew coming from the likes of Caustic Thought and Corpseworm.  After putting five songs together and ready to record a demo, Kelly Schaefer made it a point to fly into Atlanta to help produce the Splinters Of Change demo at LedBelly Sound Studios.  So while it would be silly to expect an Atheist: Part II, you can get a pretty accurate idea of where these guys are coming from.

For starters, Gnostic sounds like they take pride in heavily drawing upon their death metal roots without coming across as a total death metal band.  As a matter of fact, Gnostic really does a nice job of bringing back the intelligent riff to death metal, something which is becoming increasingly uncommon with every passing year.  In place of distorted, whirling, chugging nonsense, these guys are the musical equivalent of a giant middle finger stuck right in the face of current brutality scene.

Kevin Freeman (of Enders Game fame), has an absolutely gigantic vocal sound.  Sticking mostly to a harsh and dry mid-range screams/bellows, it adds a thick layer of aggression to the music which works tremendous in not allowing the instruments to compete and get caught up in themselves.

The dueling guitarists (Todd Simpson and Sonny Carson) are simply astonishing.  While highly talented guitarists who aren't afraid of tempo changes and technical soloing aren't uncommon in the metal genre, it's quite plain to see that just slapping a couple of above-average guys in this line-up would ruin the sound completely.  But what I find really solidifies Gnostic's sound is the work of Stephen Morley on bass.  While it would be entirely unfair to draw comparisons to the likes of Roger Patterson, Stephen does an idyllic job on bass and staying far away from the typical "use a pick and play right beside the drums" mentality.  Using a clean, almost funky sound, I can't help but think of an early Atheist meets Mordred...

And of course there's Steve Flynn.  Has he lost his touch?  When's the last time he's recorded anything or played a live show?  The easy answer is this: It doesn't matter.  The guy hasn't lost his touch, and his drumming is absolutely sick.  Every fan of "Piece Of Time" and "Unquestionable Presence" is going to appreciate his performance.  Guaranteed.

I'm going to have to highly recommended for any fan of mega-technical metal, especially death with dashes of thrash and jazz thrown in for flavor.  If I could write reviews as well as these guys play, I'd be doing this on a professional level.
Shev's Rating:  A

Discography (last updated 11.28.05):
Splinters Of Change demo - 2005