Hate

Hate

Auric Gates of Veles

Metal Blade Records

14 June 2019

For fans of the genre, Hate (1990, Poland) is practically the perfect illustration of modern extreme metal. It’s eight songs in 39 minutes of blasting good times. The vocals are gruff and low, but they are project well, with strength and power. Things are going to go fast and they are going to stay fast for the duration, more or less. It’s 39 minutes of headbanging modern-current 2019 Polish death metal. The tempos stay upbeat pretty much the whole time, but there’s a bit variety here and there, like on the title track, where they explore some slower moments, but even then they spice it up with double kicks. Granted, this is a whole a lotta drumming, a whole lotta blasting, and it’s a whole lotta death metal. The fact that they know how to play blasting metal and find ways to keep listeners engaged speaks volumes about how good the songwriting is. The riffs are distinguishable and pretty catchy for this style. Death metal heaviness is sometimes paired up with tremolo picking for melodies. The guitars is pretty direct, not too complex, and they stay on the message the vast majority of the time. It’s not very melodic, but it is pretty memorable nevertheless. The band does not make great use of soloing; when there’s soloing, it tends to be brief.

Like it is normal in extreme metal, Hate in the past has had clichéd, teenage-like lyrics against religion, as opposed to an intelligent, thought-out critique. It was more anger, less intelligence. It looks like this new album continues 2017 Tremendum’s effort to have more intelligent lyrics, although the anger is still there and I do hear some cursing. Coming from a Catholic-majority country, Hate, like lots of Polish extreme bands, uses religion as a go-to topic for lyrics, which fits the formula in international extreme metal, too. In conclusion, the band delivers a very economical, compact and direct album with an effort to cut out the unnecessary fat. Frankly, it sounds awesome. It’s a play-it-again-Sam album for sure. Don’t sleep on Hate. This band is considered some of the best modern-current death metal from Poland for a reason. hate.bandcamp.com/album/auric-gates-of-veles