Review; Hate - Solarflesh

Track Listing;

1. Watchful Eye Of Doom
2. Eternal Might
3. Alchemy Of Blood
4. Timeless Kingdom
5. Festival Of Slaves
6. Sadness Will Last Forever
7. Solarflesh
8. Endless Purity
9. Mesmerised

Poland is known for doing the Death Metal scene a lot of credit, and this latest offering from Warsaw four-piece Hate is another testament to their country's standing in the metal world. This is their eighth full-length offering since 1990, and shows a band who know their craft well. Blackened Death Metal is a sub-genre which is full of half-hearted bands, but their are those among the rabbles of the mediocre that can offer genuinely great metal that has the slamming brutality of Death Metal and the tense, ethereal atmosphere of Black Metal.

The album opens with an instrumental intro track, 'Watchful Eye Of Doom', and it sets the tone of the record brilliantly and epically. It becomes clear that this isn't the sound of a band with small aspirations, the grandiose, sweeping melodies, unexpectedly accompanied by eerie female vocals reminds this listener of the scope of bands like Dimmu Borgir and Behemoth. The second that 'Eternal Might' kicks in, the game is on; there are double-kick drum blasts throughout, creepily heavy guitar chord progressions and leads that show the band aren't here to show off, but instead, to write good songs.

The vocals do remind me of Nergal from Behemoth, and the lyrics do often cover the same anti-Christian/Satanic ground, but that is no discredit to the group, as their sound maintains identity of its own. Hate seem to owe a lot more to the Black Metal scene than their contemporaries; the music is punishing from start to finish, but atmospherics are woven even into the riffs and the structures of the songs, putting across a mood of misanthropy, without sacrificing that epic scope. The first few seconds of the song 'Timeless Kingdom' shows this well, before proving that the band can go flat-out like any Death Metal band. The overall sound comes across as a great balance between the Black and Death Metal scenes, and is very enjoyable.

Credit has to go out to the two guitar players of the band Adam 'ATF Sinner' Buszko and Konrad "Destroyer" Ramotowski; their lead playing throughout the bulk of the album is exquisite. It's the common trend in metal today for a guitar solo to be an opportunity to show off how many notes and different techniques you can play within the given time. I often find that approach bland, but ATF Sinner and Destroyer have given me hope that there are still guitarists out there that want to play something soulful, that lends itself to the song at hand, offering the listener a further uplifting into the music itself. Hats off to them.

For me, the definite highlight of the album is 'Festival Of Slaves', which is an absolute torrent of aural abuse and a definitive showcase of the epic brutality that the band conveys so well. The whole album is very catchy, if I dare use that word to describe a metal album, but this song is the one I reckon I will keep coming back to the most.

The band do offer the unexpected in the title-track, which opens with a dark, slithering acoustic guitar passage. The band then offers some more great leads, all the while keeping a tight-as-hell rhythm section. There are moments of musical beauty amongst the heaviness, and something in the feel of the song comes across as very Eastern, to this listener's ears.

This album is nothing short of spectacular, and stands as a shining example that even extreme, underground music can produce great songs that would sound simply massive at a metal festival. I would urge any fan of extreme metal to give this album a listen.


Rating; 10/10