Chilean extreme metal beasts Ater to unleash volatile new album ‘Somber’ and share cataclysmic new single

Monolithic Chilean extreme metal band ATER will unleash their long-anticipated sophomore album, ‘Somber,” on April 19th with Torque Records. The South American band’s follow-up to 2018’s ‘Eternal Gray Spiral,’ is a cataclysmic melding of black, death, progressive and thrashing groove for one of the year’s devastating heavy metal records.

Commenting on the impending record’s release, ATER states:

“We are extremely excited to finally reveal our new album ‘Somber’. After hard years in the making, we have completed our vision. ‘Somber’ represents a new chapter for ATER, as you are about to see. We have found our sound with ‘Somber’ and we are thrilled to finally release it. We cannot wait to bring this new music live to as many audiences as we possibly can. We have created something unique blending our influences into a new sound that we don’t know how to label yet. We are interested to see what people will name our sound and what sub-genre of metal we will be related to. For the artwork of this album we have worked with the fantastic Erik Kirchner, who captured the world of ‘Somber’ better than anybody could. Hope to see you all on the road!“

With the announcement, the band debuted the crushing new single “Ignis Immortalis.”

Stream “Ignis Immortalis”: https://ditto.fm/ignis-immortalis

ATER adds about the single:

“We have selected ‘Ignis Immortalis’ as the first single from our new album ‘Somber,’ because it represents where we are as a band today and encapsulates well what the album has in store for our listeners. This track is special to us, as it was the first collaboration between main writer Fernando and guitarist Josh. After writing it over the span of almost two years, Fern came up with a demo of the song and after presenting it to the band, Josh took it and wrote all the lyrics and melodies.

Fernando comments:

¨This was a challenging song to compose. The first half of intro and fast black metal section was written early in the writing process of ‘Somber’. It was very difficult to come up with music to follow after those sections and it took me over a year to finally figure it out. Once it was done, Josh was very inspired by it and surprised us all with all the lyrics.“

ATER is an enigmatic band that was born in Santiago, Chile in 2010, out of the mind of Fernando Bühring. Originally named ¨Aeons Collide¨ to later be re-named ¨ATER¨ in 2013. ATER went on to become an international band lead by funding member, Chilean multi-instrumentalist Fernando ¨Feroz¨ Bühring. After meeting at a Meshuggah show in Los Angeles, days after the release of their debut album ‘Eternal Gray Spiral,’ ATER was joined by the talents of Josh “Sol” Seguin and Stephan “Kalani” Seguin, playing guitar and drums, respectively. 

With a new lineup and a new vision, Fernando took the lead on songwriting for their new album titled ‘Somber,’ combining sounds from black and death metal to progressive and heavy Meshuggah-inspired syncopated grooves. Pushing the boundaries of the instrumentation by bringing the tuning down to low earth-shattering frequencies, all topped with demented-sounding low growl vocals, reminiscent of bands like Septicflesh, Hate and Belphegor, plus the heavy ambience and clean sections that became ATER´s signature with the first album ‘Eternal Gray Spiral.’

‘Somber‘ was recorded during the Covid pandemic and was mixed by Fernando in a temporary studio in Mexico City where he was quarantined during restricted times. The album was then mastered by non other than Ted Jensen of Sterling Sound (Mastodon, Gojira, Korn).

Tagged by fans —who already have seen them live— as “Blackened Thall,” the new album ‘Somber‘ can be described as one of the heaviest, darkest and most extreme works ever created in metal. Every song on the album carries a story, creating an immersive experience for the listener from beginning to end, thanks to the album’s clever songwriting, unique structuring and heavy, dark ambience.

ATER‘s sophomore album ‘Somber‘ is ready to see the light in 2024. The band worked closely with renowned artist Erik Burton Kirchner who created the artwork for the album. He managed to portray the darkness of the music and brought the entire work to new heights.