Since "Okkult" and the following EP "Masters of Darkness" Germany's ATROCITY are back on the path of creating more extreme sounds. In my review for the EP (here-review written in German) I looked back at the entire discography, and believe me, I am far away from being an uncritical listener, and yes, there has been some releases by ATROCITY I really didn't like.
But that's history, and on the new Album "Okkult II" (release date July 6, 2018) the band plays aggressive high-quality death metal, sometimes combined with symphonic elements. The track named "Bloodshed and Triumph" is a really good example, there are some very extreme death metal-parts, combined with subtile symphonic elements and female choirs which remind me to bands such as Celtic Frost or (older) Therion. "Devil's Covenant" (featuring Lars-Göran Petrov of Entombed /Entombed A.D.) is a real groove monster and can compared to "Heartwork"-era Carcass, here as well female voices can be heard that fit perfectly as contrasting elements. "Gates to Oblivion" (featuring Marc Grewe / Ex-Morgoth as vocalist) starts bombastic with female choirs, Celtic Frosts "Into the Pandemonium" or Darkthrones "Goatlord" (which was of course heavily influenced by Celtic Frost) directly comes to mind and progresses to aggressive death / thrash metal-parts. And the most important thing: ATROCITY have some kind of unique selling point, I don't know any other band that sounds the same: ATROCITY are neither "old school", nor do they sound too modern. My only criticism concerns the slightly boring cover artwork, which I think doesn't really fit to the music.
As mentioned before, "Okkult II" Features guestvocals by Marc Grewe and Lars Göran-Petrov, maybe with the help of this hint the last sceptic will realize ATROCITYs successful return to more extrem sounds. I can only recommend this album for all fans of extreme metal !
