Reviews : Albums : Hate Eternal, "King of All Kings"

If you've been following the Florida death metal scene recently, you'd probably know all about Hate Eternal, it's lineup and its reputation for creating some of the most uncompromising, technical, mindsplittingly heavy death metal around. On the band's second album, "The Derek Roddy Show", oh, wait...I mean, King of All Kings, Erik Rutan, Jared Anderson and Derek Roddy squeeze every drop of blood from each of their instruments. The resulting album is a 10 song, 34-minute beating that is so technical and aggressive that it's nearly unlistenable.

Just like on Conquering the Throne, Rutan and crew have created a disc that is too fast, too heavy and too technical for my simple mind. In fact, I believe that King of All Kings is probably a little too technical, heavy and fast for its own good. Though there's the occasional amazing groove, and guitar flourish, neither of these is enough to keep my interest beyond the first few songs. By the end of the disc it has all become a blur of blast beats and death growls. "King of All Kings" is a disc only for fans of the most extreme in the scene. For the rest of us, the brilliance of this album will be lost, or at the very least underappreciated.

On a side note, after having seen Hate Eternal live twice, I can honestly say that this band is for real. They can actually play this stuff in a concert setting. Eric is able to pull off both the guitar duties and the vocals all at once, and Derek Roddy is a fucking drum machine. The man doesn't miss a beat, making it less than surprising to hear that the drums for King of All Kings were recorded in one take. Jared Anderson's contribution to the music, though more easily lost (but that's the fate of bass players, isn't it?) is also rock solid and invaluable, though he really needs to let up on the corny "scary faces" he makes during the set.

The more I think about it, Hate Eternal is a freak in the death scene, and I doubt if there's going to be a band in the next few years that will be able to take this away from them. I invite you to check out the sideshow if you think you can handle it.

Standout Tracks    King of All Kings    Servants of the Gods

Peter Johnston