Satanic Surfers are BACK! Oh wait...Enemy Alliance are BACK! Oh wait...Atlas Losing Grip are BACK! Hang on... Ahem. The long and short of it is that Atlas Losing Grip have a new singer, and that singer is Rodrigo Alfaro of Satanic Surfers/Enemy Alliance/Intensity fame. This is their first release with Rodrigo, a five-track EP named Watching the Horizon.

As to be expected, this match-up allows the continuance of the sound that probably partly lead to Fat Mike making the "Swede bands copy our sound" accusation on "Insulted by Germans (Again)." Rodrigo brings his vocal styling from the latter Satanic Surfer recordings and the rest of the band seem to have mashed the tunes of Enemy Alliance and Atlas Losing Grip past: melodic, slightly technical and non-aggressive. Naturally, it works. There is nothing here to attract previous doubters of the sound, yet plenty for established fans.

The opener, "Heartbeat" isn't exactly the most uplifting song you'll hear all year; "Life fucking sucks / But I can blame no one else / I'm the master of, creator of it all...I wallow in self-pity 'till I drown." Likewise, "Fact to Face" is about impending fatherhood and "Horizon" is about looking back/regrets. It's no coincidence that rockers who have aged with the classic Epi-Fat sound will probably be able to relate to at least one of those sentiments.

At the same time, THAT sound isn't sounding past it just yet. Despite the lack of instant appeal, Watching the Horizon is more than solid enough to warrant repeated listens.