Jupiter is the name of the fourth studio album by the American technical death metal

Technical death metal

Technical death metal is a musical subgenre of death metal that focuses on complex rhythms, riffs and song structures. Technical experimentation in death metal began in the late '80s and early '90s by bands such as Death, Atheist and Cynic...

 band Atheist

Atheist (band)

Atheist is a technical death metal band from Florida, founded in 1984, whose music combines metal riffs with subtle Latin music arrangements and jazz fusion.- History :...

. It is their first studio album in 17 years since the release of Elements in 1993.

Overview

On October 5, 2005, Atheist vocalist Kelly Shaefer announced that the band would possibly reform to play live shows sometime in the following year. In January 2006 the band reformed with Shaefer on vocals, Rand Burkey on guitar, Tony Choy on bass, and Steve Flynn on drums and announced festival appearances.

On July 12, 2008, Shaefer announced that he and drummer Steve Flynn would be meeting up to write music together for the first time since Unquestionable Presence

Unquestionable Presence

Unquestionable Presence is the second album by the death metal band Atheist. It was released in 1991 and added a new sound by using jazz-like harmonies, subtle latin rhythms and unusual time signatures.-Album information:...

in 1991. On March 6, 2009, Atheist announced that they had signed with the Independent record label, Season of Mist

Season of Mist

Season of Mist is a record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pagan metal and death metal records, the label moved on to releasing...

 and on July 5, 2010, they finally entered the studio to begin recording a new album.

On July 11, 2010, Atheist revealed that the new album will be named "Jupiter" and that it is scheduled for a November release. In August 2010, the band revealed the track listing for the album and announced that bassist Tony Choy

Tony Choy

Tony Choy is an American electric bassist. He was a session musician for some well-known technical death metal bands such as Atheist, Cynic and the Dutch band Pestilence...

 parted ways with the band. A replacement bassist hasn't been brought in, as guitarist Jonathan Thompson also recorded the bass tracks for the new album.

Reception

Jupiter has received mixed reviews. Skullsnbones.com states, "Does Jupiter live up to its predecessors? The short answer is sadly no." However, the review later states, "I want to make it very clear that this is not a bad album, just not what Atheist fans had been hoping for." Similarly, a review from allmusic.com states that "This album isn't a failure by any means, but it's not going to make old-school Atheist fans very happy, either."

Track listing

Personnel

Atheist

• Kelly Shaefer - vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Steve Flynn - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Chris Baker - guitars
• Jonathan Thompson - guitars, bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  

Production

• Matt Washburn - recording engineer
• Jason Suecof
  Jason Suecof
  -Career:Jason is best known for his production and song-writing with the band Trivium. He produces most of his albums at his own Orlando, Florida based studio, Audio Hammer...
  
   - mixing
• Eliran Kantor
  Eliran Kantor
  Eliran Kantor is a Berlin-based artist and illustrator known mostly for creating album covers for heavy metal bands such as Testament, Mekong Delta, Sigh and Anacrusis...
  
  - artwork