Reviews : Albums : Hate Eternal, "I, Monarch"

To say you know what to expect from Hate Eternal would be an understatement. Either you completely adore the relentless battery in all its lack of dynamic glory or you get increasingly bored with each blast and octave slide. I can get into Hate Eternal to an extent because I acknowledge that their goal is to be as blisteringly extreme as possible, and I know the dudes in the band are more than capable of composing something slow and haunting, so it's their complete refusal to do so that makes Hate Eternal the entity that it is. It appears however that the band is making note of its criticisms because this record shows the band progressing just enough to keep their stranglehold on all things extreme while at the same time adding slight elements to keep things moderately interesting.

I will say that this is definitely their best effort mainly due to the fact that it's the first Hate Eternal record produced to the extent where I can hear what's going on, but as far as the actual content goes, nothing is really more visceral than the previous records, although the scatterbrained arrangement of "Behold Judas" definitely adds a level of bewilderment to their style that goes beyond blast beats. The paced end of "To Know Our Enemies" and intro to the title track also stand out as the band seems to be going for a more epic approach which I feel can really flesh out their sound. There's even a few guitar effects like the phaser on the title track and what seems to be a didgeridoo on "Sons of Darkness" which add some spice to the blast cauldron, believe it or not. Some of the phrases such as the intro to "The Plague of Humanity" are audibly as blasphemous as ever, and the guitar solos are unmistakably Rutan, culling his contributions all the way back to Morbid Angel's Domination. But regardless of the aforementioned strengths of the record, I can't remember a single thing about it after it's over, and this has been the curse of the two that preceded it as well. I think that with the decline of Rutan's previous band, I want Hate Eternal to be more Morbid Angel than they'll ever be, and while this may prevent me from fully appreciating Hate Eternal's efforts, I sincerely hope that other listeners don't allow Rutan's decorated past to haunt his contributions to the future.

Standout Tracks    Behold Judas    I, Monarch

J.Hauppa