Artist : Inhuman Hate
Title: Twilight Of A Lost Soul
Type: Album
Label: Eisenwald

Ooh, how mysterious. This album is presented in a grim greyscale cover with no band-name, no album title and on the rear, no track-listing! From what I’ve found on the web however, this is simply because there are no song-titles as such – this 42 minute album is split into five tracks, simply named parts 1-5. With a downpour of rain and some rumbles of thunder, the scene is set and it’s a colourless, bleak and desolate one for sure. These stormy sound samples are something that reappears in-between most of the tracks here giving a feel of continuation; as quoted on the back of the sleeve “Self-hatred, destructive and misanthropic was the path which ended in the eternal rain.”

The minimalist guitars on ‘Part 1’ are depressive in tone, and also rather hypnotic, while there’s a bass-heavy foundation that lays an apocalyptic sense of unrest, eventually leading us back into the rain. ‘Part 2’ is less ambient and more enraged, with drums really getting a battering. It takes a while to get going but once it is at the peak it really goes for it, storming ahead with a confident stride until collapsing into darkness with guitars straining to find their way back and at this point there’s almost a tribal thing going on with the rhythm. ‘Part 3’ doesn’t so much kick in as it does break down…for moments all we hear is a disquieting fuzz that you get the feeling something pretty awful is going to emerge from. Anguished cries and tortured screams react to the undercurrent of hellish, taunting voices; a bit of a headfuck really!

‘Part 4’ starts off a mournful piano/violin ensemble, and a real calm relief following its agonising precursor. As this one really gets going there’s a much more Gothic inclination, and the vocals for the first time are a clean and emotional bellow while musically the blackened sound is swept aside if favour of a more soothing, melancholic and melodious death-doom influence. ‘Part 5’ returns to a harsher sound, which is mid-paced and rather entrancing; the tortured rasps only add to this in my opinion. There’s certainly a cold and misanthropic tone to this one. Inhuman Hate aren’t really doing anything that hasn’t been done before, but this conjures up all the right atmosphere and emotions to recommend this to anyone who likes their music to come with free razorblades.

http://www.myspace.com/inhumanhate