This Danish mob has always been there on the radar. I am sure I have seen them live as well as heard a couple of albums in the past but they have never really made that much of an impression. I would love to say that all this has changed on album number six as it is a good solid album with plenty of things in its favour. However it has not got that essential hook about it that will make me want to go out of my way and either go and see them or track down the back catalogue. Hatesphere would seem to be one of those many bands I could happily pass the time of day with rather than avoiding them, but no more than that really.
This is an album that does not hang about in the slightest and it fires out 10 tracks in 34 minutes, all of them raging and rampant and all mixing a Gothenburg sounding slab of melodeath mixed with elements of hardcore and thrash metal. I believe that the group have recently gone through a bit of a revolving door situation with band members, and today only guitarist Peter Hansen remains from the line up that started off on their self titled album back in 2001.
We are fully into the opening and title song within a millisecond of pressing play. There is no such thing as a Hatesphere intro here, just the roll of drums and bark of singer Jonathan 'Joller' Albrechtsen’s vocals. The incessant guitar and bass flail around and a couple of minutes later the song finishes and without further ado we piledrive into the next one ‘Backstabber.’ As far as other bands of this ilk are concerned I keep having a think and coming back to The Haunted, which again is not a bad thing. A bit more of a metal element here though perhaps as the guitar solo on the aforementioned ‘Backstabber’ illustrates.
There is plenty to bounce around to like the pogotastic elasticity of ‘Clarity’ and this album is what I would describe as mosh heavy and meaty, delivering the goods for those that are still young and active enough to go for a good workout in the pit. I guess my main beef is that I have heard it all before and feel like a veteran here wanting this to offer something a little bit different. We get a breather in the midst of it all with an instrumental interlude ‘Commencing A Campaign’ (well done Napalm putting a voiceover into a minute long track, sheesh) and then we are back into the melee for the rest of the album.
There is going to be a limited edition digipack of this with three bonus tracks and a video and considering the fairly short running time of this you would be advised to get your moneys worth with this. If you like Hatesphere no doubt you will not be disappointed with this, as far as I am concerned and with ‘In The Trenches’ ringing in my ears this is pretty much expendable stuff to put at the frontline and not mourn too much when it is cut down in battle.
http://www.hatesphere.com
http://www.myspace.com/hatesphere
