When Alex, the owner of Dolorem Records, directly contacted me about reviewing one of his bands Creeping Fear.  I said yes, especially since I had never heard of the band.  Creeping Fear is a French death metal band who play an earlier form of Morbid Angel, Immolation and mixed with Hate Eternal – or that’s kind of what these ears have me thinking.  They’ve been kicking it for a little over a decade.

Hategod Triumph is the follow-up to their 2017 debut Onward to Apocalypse.  I have went back and listened to their debut and it’s damn good and I am happy to say Hategod Triumph bests their debut in terms of songwriting and production values.  The new album actually is a tad more streamlined then their debut.  8 songs in 36 minutes.  “Collapse” begins with a slow burn of an instrumental opening with what is an epic buildup.  I was like oh yeah this is going to start soon – and boom right into a nice blast.  And the guitar sound reminding me a little of Blessed are the Sick/Covenant era from Morbid Angel, as well as the song structure, then going right into more monstrous blasting and some Immolation dissonance.  Then the mid-paced rumbling heaviness and massive double bass drums kick in your teeth and busts your jaw for ya.

The title track is my jam!!  It’s perfectly placed in the middle of the album and at over 6 minutes the band has plenty of time to bring in many different tempos.  Starting with some swirling wind and church bells this opening is very ominous before the ultra-heavy part erupts and then the rolling drums comes in and then right into a monstrous blast that has me thinking Hate Eternal and then going into faster territory.  Excellent drum rolls during the blast beat too.  Then the song slows down and it’s super heavy and the double bass and guitar squealing pinch harmonics are perfect.  The double bass will topple high rise buildings in one fell swoop.  Vocals are more growly/shouty-not really guttural and I enjoy them – angry sounding. That monster guitar riff returns during the mid-section rumbling heaviness and these moments work really well.

“We Belong to the Crypts” begins with an epic buildup and then right into the blast beat and then more time changes, switching from mid-paced heaviness to more blast beats to vintage 90’s era fast beats.  Check out some of the riffing at the 2.30 part and then a guitar solo comes right on in and opens the door, all the while Sean Carr is screaming close the goddamned door already!  During this riffing the rhythm section really shines and I enjoy the bass guitar mix on this recording.  It’s audible and there are some isolated bass guitar moments across the album, but the sound is mixed in well.  This song has some great drumming and just like the title track, enough mid-paced moments to allow those repeated riffs to breathe.  Really nice guitar melodies towards the end of the song.  Almost heading into a little black metal influence, but not all the way there.

Hey chalk Creeping Fear to another new band I will be listening to from now on.  The album cover has the devil on the front with all the minions hanging out.  It’s a little goofy looking, but fits with their blasphemous themes and well the album is called Hategod Triumph for a reason.  The production is well done and captures their sound a bit better then their debut, which had some muddiness to the production but was still decent.  Creeping Fear have put together a really good album with Hategod Triumph and it’s pure death metal through and through with a strong emphasis on the early 90’s sound.  I encourage you to investigate the band, like their social media pages and check out their releases – they play death metal very well.

[Visit the band's website]

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