Atomizer: The War that Never Ended (2008)

Well this title is a little bit of a misnomer.  I assume the war that the title is referring to is the full-out assault on listeners Atomizer engaged in for a little over ten years.  Atomizer called it quits after their 2008 album Caustic Music for the Spiritually Bankrupt.  And what a ride it was.  This is a compilation album of a number of choice cuts from each of the band's albums, almost all of which I had previously heard.

Next to Deströyer 666, Atomizer was my favorite band in the Australian blackened thrash metal scene.  They were different.  The band's earlier material fit in well with the Aussie groups like D666, Destruktor, Gospel of the Horns and the like.  But Atomizer was not content to put out the same kind of blackened thrash metal as their earlier material forever.  They started to evolve, incorporating more straight-forward rock and punk elements and some impressively weird vocal stylings.  The result was a band that was not content to rest on its laurels and made some very interesting stylistic choices over the years, while not completely turning their backs on what got them there in the first place.

There is something sort of strange about a compilation of songs from a band that has received little to no radio play ever in their careers.  It cannot really be a Greatest Hits album, because the band had no hits.  I suppose you can argue that it is a "Best Of..." album.  I was kind of surprised this release even existed honestly.  I suppose if I were to consider pulling my favorite Atomizer songs for a compilation release, I would include many of the songs found here.  "When I Die, I Wanna Die Violently" is my personal favorite track from them, featuring everything that makes them stand out from other bands in their scene.  Particularly the kind of "campfire" vocals that the band used more and more later in time.  Others like "The Only Weapon of Choice" and "A Song to Swing To" are also essential Atomizer tracks.

I like the idea of this release, it is a decent way to get the better songs by Atomizer, but it just feels unnecessary.  Atomizer was never even close to a mainstream band.  Most people who are into them are just going to go out and get all of their albums.  It is kind of silly to have a compilation album of album cuts.  I could see a compilation of demo tracks or something like that a little better than this.  But hey, I still bought the damn thing, so whatever.