Metal Monday: Hate Eternal Sit Among Ashes

posted in: Reviews & Playlists • Rock

Times, they are changing. Luckily for us, Hate Eternal are keeping up with their tried and true death metal ways on their new album Phoenix Amongst The Ashes. For all those who believe that pure death metal is dead and gone, Hate Eternal is serving another reminder that naysayers are  just plain wrong. Whether you like it technical, brutal, thrashy or raw and ungarnished”Hate Eternal will bring it.

Death metal isn’t exactly known as a “singles” market, but that doesn’t mean bands avoid songs that are as strong as any single should be. In Hate Eternal’s case, they’ve compiled ten songs that are all pretty worthy of being called a “single” and put them end to end. No filler material, no interludes”only a short intro to the album which means listeners get about forty minutes of great death metal without a single break. If that doesn’t appeal to you, you probably don’t like metal as much as you thought you did.

What really separates Phoenix Amongst The Ashes from its colleagues and predecessors, however, is the mixture between the backup and main vocals. They’ve evolved from being the traditional main/backup roles into being more about a different vocal sound and a change of pace. Rather than have vocalist Erik Rutan constantly supplying guttural growls, bassist JJ Hrubovcak is supplying a powerful bark on many of the tracks, often times during the chorus, to emphasize the change of pace.

Not that you would expect anything else, but the technicality of Hate Eternal’s performance on this record is exquisite. Every single guitar note, drum hit, etc. are about as clean as you can get without sounding completely robotic or inhuman (though I’m still not convinced the members of the band aren’t some sort of androids). With machine-like precision guiding them, the vocals and guitar solos provide the band with raw emotion and nuance.

Phoenix Amongst The Ashes is almost certainly Hate Eternal’s most solid and dense work to date, and is so without sacrificing quality of content. Surpassing each of their previous four works, Phoenix Amongst The Ashes is another strong contender for metal album of the year, or at the very least, death metal album of the year. You can snag this great album from places like iTunes or Amazon.

Overall score: 9/10

For fans of: Origin, Krisiun, Necrophagist, The Faceless, Nile, Suffocation and other really great death metal acts.

Enjoy this promo video by Metal Blade Records for the album, which includes the song “Haunting Abound”