# Atheist (band)

Atheist is a Florida death metal band from Sarasota, Florida, founded in 1987.

## Quotes

* They say you have a lifetime to write your first album and this was the case with Piece of Time. We didn't our entire lifetime creating it, but we spent many hours in a very hot warehouse in South Florida making our best attempt to combine the finesse and technical execution that we heard in Rush, with the ferocity we heard in Slayer and Merciful Fate.
** Kelly Shaefer of Atheist, as quoted from the liner notes of the reissue of Piece of Time
* One of the main reasons Atheist ended up being such a strange band was we were trying so hard not to sound like anybody else that we went way overboard. We were outsiders within an outsider's scene so we made it doubly hard for ourselves.
** Kelly Shaefer of Atheist, as quoted by Revolver

## Song lyrics
### Piece of Time

* I am my own self-ruler I need not any ministry I see our music scares you Can't you see that? There's no truth in modern religion A god we do not praise There's no truth in heaven or hell Or what lies in between There's no truth in a man-made Bible So who are they to say? There's no truth, we are our own god And that's the only way People living their lives By something never seen Dreaming all their lives Of a place they've never been Why can't you see you live a lie? Humor yourself until you die We're atheist as you can see We all control our own divinity There's no truth
** "No Truth," as quoted from the album's liner notes

### Unquestionable Presence

* What man creates Man will surely destroy The rule of thumb In the mouths of little boys Earth spins delight We kill everything in sight To serve the needs And all purple skies will bleed And a bird flies weak Against polluted skies Before it dies And nature becomes illegal According to rules Made by fools
** "Mother Man," as quoted from the album's liner notes

## Quotes about Atheist

* Arguably the ultimate progressive metal band of their day, Atheist's impossibly Byzantine death-jazz proved too advanced even for committed metalheads to stomach. Over the span of three albums admirably recorded in spite of crippling adversity, the band's inventive but inaccessible style has earned them a lasting respect, but likewise compromised their chances of attaining widespread success.
** Mike DaRonco of AllMusic
* Anyone doubting that Florida’s death metal community represented the absolute cutting edge of metallic invention during the early ‘90s need look no further than Sarasota natives, Atheist, whose experiments in jazz fusion – soon dubbed death-jazz – remain without peer, even today. Led by vocalist and guitarist Kelly Shaefer, Atheist began life as R.A.V.A.G.E. (Raging Atheists Vowing a Gory End) before making a head-spinning first impression with 1990’s ‘Piece of Time’ showcasing the incomparable bass skills of Roger Patterson (hailed by many as Cliff Burton’s heir apparent). But when Patterson was killed in a horrific van crash, the band recruited Tony Choy to give life to his bass lines on the group’s arguable masterpiece, ‘Unquestionable Presence.’
** Eduardo Rivadavia of Loudwire

## See also

* Florida death metal
* Technical death metal