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: Atheist Resurrected


4-13-00 8:15 AM PST antiGUY
Talk about timing, Superfragile/NMG have announced the reissue of three of the most sought after death metal cd's of the past decade, the first one will be available just in time for Easter. The band is Atheist and the albums are 1988's "Piece of Time", 1991's"Unquestionable Presence" and 1993's "Elements". 

"Piece of time" will be in stores April 14th with the other  two albums to be released over the summer (June and August). 

Death Metal fans and critics alike considered Atheist ahead of their time. The band never recovered from the death of their original bass player Roger Patterson to a tragic accident while on their first US tour in 1990. Two years and two albums later the band called it quits. Lead vocalist Kelly Shaefer went on to form the hard rocking band Neurotica which was discovered by AC/DC lead vocalist Brian Johnson while playing at a small venue in Florida. 

While Kelly and Neurotica now enjoy their own measure of success and critical praise, it was time to introduce a new generation to the music of Atheist and give the die hard original fans something extra. 

The albums are all digitally remastered and contain unreleased  tracks, demos and live material as well as new liner notes and exclusive photos. 

We talked to Kelly and asked him how these reissues came about and about the unreleased tracks that will be on the cd's. Here is what he had to say, "The reissue project came about as a result of the albums being out of print for the last 7 years, and it took about that long for people to be able to understand �atheist� music hahaha, I started seeing a lot of people 
Buying it from ebay for like 40 bucks a c.d. And I thought that sucked. So that coupled with the resurgence of support for extreme prog metal, so we gathered up some bonus tracks from when Roger Patterson(bass player who was killed on our first tour) was still alive w/ us. And remastered all 3 records and now they will be available worldwide for all to enjoy."

Kelly also let us in on the possibility of Atheist recording together again.  There is  "the chance that myself, Steve Flynn, and Rand Burkey may get together to do a few new songs, to be included on the 3rd release due out in july or so. it would be the first time we have all recorded together in 10 years." 

This Easter the resurrection of Atheist will begin. This is your second chance to become a true believer. 

Also be sure to check out the official Atheist web site at www.atheistonline.com