Review of the Album "4" by Brazilian Thrash Metal Band Attomica

Brazilian thrash metal band Attomica is one of those bands that even if they did not offer any groundbreaking material and offer something different than the typical thrash metal band, they have still gotten better over the years. Their 2012 studio album called 4 is the best one that I have heard from them to this point. The vocals are done by Alex Rangel who died in 2015 but his vocals are easier to understand than the high-pitched Andre Rod.

Right from the get go, the song Blood Bath has some sound effects and turns to slow, heavy modernized riffing. Then the song really speeds up offering us a more modern version of Holy Moses and Metallica. Think about the song Current of Death which came out in 1987 and the riffing for this song has the same type of speed but the riffing isn’t a carbon copy of that song. The song tries to bring across the message that the end of the human race is coming and that there is no hope. As long as there is free will among humans, good and evil acts will always exist. Attomica provides us with some good Exodus style thrash metal and by the tone, you can tell that there is a sort of Tempo of the Damned feel in this first song. Night Killer (not to be confused with the Judas Priest song Nightcrawler) is a song about a person that goes on night rides with his bike and he acts as a professional assassin. No one should cross his path.

Down the Drain is a song that lyrically tells the story of a person’s tragic downfall into the lifestyle of drugs and alcohol as he never cared who his father was. He is always in trouble and always living in sin. Following this song is the song Yakuza which tells the story of how the Japanese mafia operates. Black Death is a song about the bubonic plague that spread throughout Europe in the 1300’s. Wanted is a song about a professional that has fun in causing people’s lives to be miserable. That’s a way of phrasing it in a way that sounds less negative. The song has a modern Metallica feel to it and also there is this The Haunted kind of influence in it due to the riffing. Hurt ‘n’ Scared is a fast and heavy song about a person that has been the victim of a home invasion as the culprits have beaten him up. 4 is a very solid modern thrash metal album that although not the most melodic example of a thrash metal album, the songs seem to really click. It is like you can say to yourself “wow this is good!”

Mysterious Lady is a song about someone that discovers what he considers a mysterious woman as he goes out to drink and party in what becomes a memorable night for the man at first. But at the end of the night, he has a broken heart and the bed is empty as she has left him wondering what happened. Just because a woman has a great body does not mean that she can be trusted. But in Western countries, physical beauty takes on a more important role compared to a person’s personality.

The album ends with a beautiful instrumental song called Amen, thus the end result is a very good thrash metal album that does not have the heavy, rough grooves of Pantera or the melody of Kreator but these guys should be given a chance especially in the 2010’s!