Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve waited almost 4 years, but it’s finally arrived: the new Behemoth album! Nergal has thankfully returned back to full health following his illness, and he and his fellow band mates are… wait… what is that? You’re telling me this is NOT the new Behemoth?!? Huh?! Get through the intro, and there’s no way you can tell me that’s not Nergal once the vocals kick in!
Well folks, truthfully it’s not. It actually happens to be the front man Adam the First Sinner (props for the cool nickname by the way), lead singer of fellow Polish band Hate, and this is their 8th full length album. Hailing from the same country as the death/black metal master themselves, the influences have always been there, but not quite this obvious. As mentioned previously ATF Sinner has a hollow yell that’s a carbon copy of Nergal’s, and even the song structures and elements have become similar to their fellow countrymen. It’s not a total ape-job, but Hate definitely cheated off Behemoth while they were both taking their latest test in Metal History 101.
That aside, the musicianship that was on display on their last killer album, Erebos, is back again. Hexen is back behind the kit, and his slick fills and double bass work will surely remind listeners of Inferno (that’s by no means a negative). Destroyer handles the leads, with ATF Sinner backing him up with additional guitar work, as well as synths that give a nice melodic backbone to the more punishing elements of their music.
Going into a track by track analysis is almost pointless, as any fan of the aforementioned bands will already know what they’re getting here. No song really jumps out, as a mid to upper-tempo pace mixed in with some faster parts is pretty much the recipe on this one. Fans of Vader will also feel right at home here, and notice further commonalities. It’s often said that Hate doesn’t get the recognition that those other 2 bands get, but with such a similar style they’re at a point where they’ll need to break the mold a little bit and try to forge their own sound. They have the talent to do so; it’s just a matter of if they want to make the choice to.
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yeah, this is pretty Behem-ish. I like it.
on Mar 4th, 2013 at 07:42Both are good, but if memory serves me right, Hate started a year before Behmoth. They have always played death metal as I have many albums of theirs (Behemoth evolved there).. Yeah, the styles are now very similar but they have just as much claim to polish death metal as behemoth. Just not as well known or not signed to century media or metal blade.
on Mar 4th, 2013 at 23:53I honestly thought this record sounded off in multiple departments. I was about to write the review for this and it would’ve been a tremendously negative one – I’m yet to hear anything from this band that comes even close to the quality of BEHEMOTH and VADER material. They might aim for the same line of thought, I just don’t think they’re reaching it at all. I hope they have it in them to release something more focused and fleshed out the next time around, I really wanted to give this the benefit of the doubt but didn’t manage to dig it at all.
on Mar 7th, 2013 at 13:00