Band:	Atrophy
Album:	Violent By Nature
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	1990
Guest review by:	omne metallum

01. Puppies And Friends
02. Violent By Nature
03. In Their Eyes
04. Too Late To Change
05. Slipped Through The Cracks
06. Forgotten But Not Gone
07. Process Of Elimination
08. Right To Die
09. Things Change

Atrophy have the unfortunate honour of being a diamond in the rough, a band who produced some solid output but didn't taste much success. Violent By Nature is their second and last album (so far) and followed on the heels of their debut having the benefit of experience and time. A thoroughly enjoyable album, if you are looking for more thrash metal and do not know where to go next, may I suggest you seek this banger out.

Atrophy get down to business from the off, offering up some vital and hard-hitting tracks that traverse up-tempo thrashers, slow but no less hard tracks and songs that eschew power for some great groove. Coming at the tail end of the thrash scene in 1990, Violent By Nature sounds like a student of the scene who coalesces all the different strains over the years into one place.

The band offer up some brilliant tracks; the groove-laden "Forgotten But Not Gone", the hybrid "Slipped Through The Cracks" and tour de force of "Process Of Elimination" are the highlights of what is a solid whole.

Metoyer does a solid production job here, giving the band a clean well-balanced sound that allows everything to be heard easily but not at the sacrifice of power. Lykins and Skowron have a guitar tone that is powerful but in which you can hear every note crystal clear, which is a boon as they offer up some great work between them ("Slipped Through The Cracks"). Gulotta's bass has its own spot in the mix and balances holding down the low end with his wondering fret work ("A Change Too Late" is a highlight of this dual role). Zimmerman has a strong voice that Metoyer realizes only needs to be placed well in the mix as his natural ability needs no assistance. The only person who is somewhat let down in all this is Kelly; his drums do sound a bit hollow and his cymbals clicky. With drums sometimes sounding like dull thuds rather than thunderous strikes, alongside annoying cymbal rings, it means I struggle to focus on his drums as these two elements put me off.

What Violent By Nature lacks though is the killer blow. As good as the songs are, I can't see non-thrash fans being won over in droves; rather, it will be something for hardcore thrash fans. As solid as a track like "Puppies And Friends" is, I can't see it having mass appeal to those who aren't into thrash. Whether that should count against the album is up to you, but as impressive as an album may be, one that can pull itself out of the box of genre classification and appeal to many different groups is stronger for me.

If you are getting into thrash and want to delve deeper into the genre or are just looking for something new to sink your hungry ears into, then Violent By Nature is a solid choice to pick, offering up a diverse and strong set of tracks to give you hours of enjoyment. If you are someone who only enjoys the odd thrash song but little more than that, then it won't hurt to listen, but I doubt it will be the eye-opening moment where it clicks for you.