It’s over two years since I reviewed the debut album from this Polish lot, and it seems there has been a slight change since then with one of the other band members taking over vocal duties. Made Of Hate remain a relatively unknown band, and in some ways I don’t think they have a sound very typical of the AFM roster which caters by and large to the classic/power metal fan. If you have heard the debut by this band however you should have a rough idea what to expect.
What is clear is that Made Of Hate have their own sound – there are some changes on this album compared to the debut, but there is the same bounciness to these tracks that I recognise from the previous stuff. The album comes in with the lively and rather catchy ‘Friend’ with its playful guitar melodies that writhe through before they are joined by the vocals. The new vocalist brings a heavier and darker style of singing to the table and I like the gravely texture to his voice. This is one aspect that made the debut incredibly plagiaristic of Children Of Bodom, which is something they seem to be shifting away from here perhaps as they try to find their own feet. The music also seems a bit more focussed - Michal Kostrzynski is still lightning fast on the fretboard but the lead guitars aren’t quite as omnipresent.
‘You Departed’ has a heavy rhythmic core which is built over with some sharp and bendy guitars that actually have quite a metalcore vibe to them. I like the vocals on this one, which range from a dark, low semi-growl to some highly melodic singing on the chorus. This is probably the most memorable track on the album. ‘False Flag’ begins with a sinuous riff that really draws you in and leads you to some machine gun fire drums. This stuff is incredibly modern sounding and very energetic. The production is faultless and all given the high-gloss treatment, and while this does have some heavy rhythms it also has an incredibly pop-like quality due to the sheer bounciness of it all – I imagine it’s great to get a party atmosphere going, but if you favour your metal with any kind of grittiness or maturity then this probably is best left on the shelf.
www.myspace.com/madeofhateofficial
