Hate Eternal – Phoenix Amongst the Ashes (2011)

01. Rebirth  1:17
02. The Eternal Ruler  3:10
03. Thorns of Acacia  4:29
04. Haunting Abound  5:00
05. The Art of Redemption  4:42
06. Phoenix Amongst the Ashes  5:42
07. Deathveil  3:31
08. Hatesworn  4:48
09. Lake Ablaze  4:29
10. The Fire of Resurrection  3:58

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Your wife has just left you for your best friend. Your children no longer respect you. Your Boss hates you. Someone just pushed in front of you in the queue. You’re life is a series of downers, and at any minute, if you don’t receive some serious psychiatric help soon, you will snap. If any of this sounds familiar, if you can relate to any or all of the above, then let me make one thing abundantly clear:

Do not, under ANY circumstances listen to this album. Just walk away and never look back. I mean it. Eric Rutan’s latest offering of Florida-based brutality will induce unsustainable amounts of testosterone and will inspire you to commit exceedingly manly feats of aggression towards anyone who gets in your way.

In a music world becoming increasing over-populated with either wishy-washy effeminate outputs for androgynous lady-boys of indeterminate sexuality, an un-numbered amount of ‘cores’ (what the fuck is ‘Math-Core even supposed to mean? Don’t get me started on ‘Mall-Core’), cross-overs, progressives (read as: lets throw in as many disparate styles as possible in an attempt to be original), it truly is a wonder to encounter anyone who has the audacity to say: No.

Step forward then Hate Eternal, who unashamedly stick two fingers up at the modern world, and vehemently stick to the virtues of Brutal Death Metal. No frills, keys, no clean vocals, no female vocals, just good old fashioned honest unrelenting American violence.

The album opens with a suitably intimidating mid-paced instrumental piece, offered as a warning shot for the weak and frail to leave or face annihilation. This is extremely brief, and the only warning you will get before the onslaught begins.

From ‘The Eternal Ruler’ onwards only those in possession of the required testicular fortitude will be left standing. The drums, vocals and guitars co-operate in a devastating alliance to ensure that no opponent will be spared or even escape.

Yet there may still be those who are of sturdier stock who can withstand such bombardments. Sadly, even these rare individuals have been anticipated by the Hate Eternal war machine. The broody ‘Haunting Abound’ as the fourth song in seems strategically placed to hunt down, abduct, incarcerate and slowly bludgeon anyone with the audacity to not already be dead. Imagine being beaten with a lead pipe, but in not-quite-slow motion.

From then onwards you get the pleasure of experiencing some very nice alterations between being beaten slowly and being beaten quickly, so as to maximising your understanding of how well versed in organised brutality Hate Eternal really are.

However, doesn’t this all sound a little familiar? If you’re acquainted with any of Hate Eternal’s previous works then it certainly should, as their greatest strength is arguably the most significant drawback to a very strong album.

Hate Eternal stick to their guns, without any compromise, which is undoubtedly a good thing. However, if that’s the case then it logically follows that there will come a point when one release will be indistinguishable from another. Some may even argue that point has now been reached, as there are a lot of good songs on offer here, but they’d all be equally at home on any previous release as they are on this.

How many years were Deicide churning out the same album before for better or worse, they had to mix things up a little (just a little). Another example of a band perpetually repeating themselves is Mortician. The only difference between albums is the production and the film samples.

How long before Hate Eternal stagnate or evolve? Die-hard hard fans need not care and certainly won’t. Casual listeners… well chances are they’ll lose interest, but even this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as this music isn’t made for the half-hearted. All in all a great introduction to a great band, but those a little long in the tooth won’t find anything they’ve not encountered before.

Oh and on a final note: the last track is a fucking Demon-God straight from a universe unknown and will do to your soul what the preceding tracks did to your body.

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