Hate – Crvsade:Zero

Jan 19 • Articles, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 6599 Views

Deckard Cain reviews the new album from Hate titled Crusade:Zero, released via Napalm Records.

Artwork by Daniel Rusilowicz

 TRACKLIST

I. VOX DEI (A CALL FROM BEYOND)
II. LORD, MAKE ME AN INSTRUMENT OF THY WRATH
III. DEATH LIBERATOR
IV. LEVIATHAN
V. DOOMSDAY CELEBRITIES
VI. HATE IS THE LAW
VII.VALLEY OF DARKNESS
VIII. CRUSADE ZERO
IX. THE OMNIPRESENCE
X. RISE OMEGA THE CONSEQUENCE!
XI. DAWN OF WAR
XII. BLACK AURA DEBRIS
XIII. THE REAPING (BONUS

When Behemoth clones world around stagnate in their redundancy there are only a very few who make it to being even remotely interesting. Behemoth themselves, beyond the tropes, personally is a bit dull save for maybe Demigod and their last release . Hate is one band that seems to me that more than just gets it right. They do so because the term of a clone can never be really applied here for they are in fact a band that predates Behemoth by a year in formation, and their vast experience of staying in business keeps them where they are. And yet a rather unstable line-up is probably one reason why Hate has failed to throw up gains in popularity, as a band you could easily cast in the same mould as Vader and Behemoth could have possibly achieved. And yet their vast amounts of experience that has gathered around the frontman, Adam the First Sinner, has kept the boat afloat. A string of eventful albums from the modern death metal assault on Awakened the Liars to the their latest Solarflesh: A Gospel of Radiant Divinity, a proponent of what has grown to become a unique Polish blackened death, have indeed earned them great acclaim.

And yet what is to be their 9th album Crvsade: Zero is a bit of a dampener in what is a strong career. While much of what made Solarflesh  very enjoyable are still present their rather superfluous abuse at different parts of each song have resulted in a  case of diminishing returns. An album that lacks in variety, consumed a its sense of tepid ideas or the lack-thereof. Those tanking riffs baptised in the most foulest of waters which  formed the very essence of their earlier releases are few and far between or are completely devoid of it. The production although markedly up to modern standards sees Adam’s slightly overbearing vocal presence, sometimes pushing the instrumentation to the rear (A no-no for death metal). To add to the damage caused are several ineffective intros, interludes and closers that make the album  a slightly incredulous and contrived affair. And yet tracks like Doomsday Celebrities, lead single Valley of Darkness and closer Dawn of War are only ones that hearken back to the good ol days of ‘Hate’ that spruced up on the riffing front instilling a much needed variety into the album. These to me were the only instances of the band actually executing what they wanted from themselves.

Sadly this is an album that fails at multiple fronts and just appears to be a mere shadow of the band when compared to their rather illustrious back catalogue. An album more likely to be buried deep beneath the infinitesimal rubble of modern metal, for just towing the ‘generic’ line.

RATING: 2/5

Ye will neither hate nor love this; ignore or consume at will.

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Thulcandra – Ascension Lost

Jan 17 • Articles, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 6578 Views

Dipankar Mohanty reviews the new album from Thulcandra titled Ascension Lost, released via Napalm Records.

Artwork by Kristian Wahlin

Thulcandra make no excuses about where their loyalties lie; that is the second wave of melodic Swedish black metal when bands like Dissection, Dawn, Unanimated and Sacramentum ruled with their epic melody lines. Thulcandra’s previous two releases reproduced that era very effectively; so by definition Ascension Lost should just continue with that sound.

First of all, it is very hard to expand what bands did back in the day. It was almost as if they wrote every melody possible within the thick layer of that icy cold atmosphere and by god, it was sorrow and elegance rolled into one. Also, they managed to weave all the parts into one whole which was complete as a song. There were no gaps. I would say that Thulcandra are yet to hit this mark consistently but one area where Thulcandra are really good at is extending those melodies into solos. Ascension Lost continues with the same sound but it appears as if the album lacks that chilly atmosphere and a certain level of innocence, if I may use that word; something which they captured well in their first two albums. Instantly, there is a bit of a stutter as the band just runs through the motions in the first two songs – “First Rebellion of Sin” and “Throne of Will”; and although the band tries to salvage them by using solos and melodies around them, the aggressive parts seem a little forced. Thankfully, the band manages to rescue the album from this position. “Deliverance of Sin and Death” and “Sorrow of the One” for example, manage to capture the melody I was looking for and elongate it to evoke that bit of desperation. “Demigod Omnipresent”, with its acoustic intro which then stretches out into a larger melodic landscape reminds me of that old sound once again. It’s a very safe listen from here on in as the band gets most of the things right – epic melody lines are sustained for a decent amount of time, acoustic interludes fit in pretty well into the scheme of things, with harmonies and solos being spot on. Thulcandra do it best when they imbibe those influential melodic sensibilities into their riffs, rather than create passages which seem disjointed from it. But, by and large they do manage to create another solid album. Agreed that there are gaps but the band has done a decent job. Essential? No, but good? Yes.

As mentioned before, they still haven’t reached the level of perfection of what the older bands did by creating parts which were equally memorable leading to their respective epic highlights/choruses, and how they intertwined with each other; the band again does a good job of reminding us that those melodies are very much relevant even today. The template has been exhausted to the fullest by the forefathers; so it’s always pleasing to hear bands like Thulcandra and Bane carrying the torch in this era.

RATING: 3/5

This scroll contains many points of interest to the initiate, yet not so many as to make it essential

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