BEHIND THE SCENERY Members Release Debut ATHEAN EP

January 3, 2012

ATHEAN, the German technical death metal project featuring BEHIND THE SCENERY guitarist Simon Abele, has just released its debut EP, "Main-Mast Of The Voyaging Earth", via Serial Six Records.

The track listing for the effort is as follows:

01. Journey Above The Calm Aeons (instrumental) (3:04)
02. Passage (4:10)
03. Fragmented Convictions (4:21)
04. Main-Mast Of The Voyaging Earth (5:12)

In 2008, Abele had the idea of starting a musical project to pay tribute to one of his all-time heroes, the late Chuck Schuldiner (DEATH). So Abele started writing and recording the first ATHEAN material in the vein of the technical period of DEATH. The material was not intended for a professional release at first, but when Simon presented the first demos to his former bandmate Chris Mrosek, they decided to give the project a more professional appeal. Christoph added his influences, and the music of the then-unnamed project gradually evolved from being a pure DEATH tribute. With the addition of BEHIND THE SCENERY vocalist Holger Speidel, the songs certainly took a more brutal and aggressive turn. You will still find classical Chuck leads and licks all over the EP, but there are also a lot of hints towards bands like CARCASS and the progressive melodic death metal of the U.S. and Europe in general.

"Good songwriting always has been a primary objective during the whole process," says Abele. "If you just expect the next over-the-edge dose of 260 bpm blastbeat radicalism, then ATHEAN might be the wrong band for you.

"Writing and playing metal is no longer a contest of speed or loudness.

"Virtually everything has been said and done here.

"When Eno, Chris and me created this EP, we wanted everything to be about groove, and the in-depth-shaping of songs in a way that they grow upon repeated listening, regardless of the genre they move in."

After an instrumental piece called "Journey Above The Calm Aeons", "Passage" is the opening track of ATHEAN's debut EP, featuring a crisp-but-natural production by Immanuel Rein of Panache Production Studios.

Mrosek's lead on "Fragmented Convictions" was heavily inspired by the early PSYCHOTIC WALTZ records, and guest Alex Guth (STORMWARRIOR, AEONS CONFER, BÖRN AGAIN) shreds a really nice solo towards the end of the song.

ATHEAN's logo design was handled by Christophe Szpajdel (EMPEROR).

ATHEAN is:

Holger Speidel - Vocals
Chris Mrosek - Guitar
Simon Abele - Guitar
Sirajul "Eno" Haque - Bass

For more information, visit www.athean.de.

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