ALBUM REVIEW: Hate Eternal – Upon Desolate Sands

Here I review the new album from US Death Metal legends Hate Eternal. It is released to via Season Of Mist!

01. The Violent Fury goes right into chaotic and crushing riffs without any need for introduction. The fascinating grooves that mesmerise you along with the insane drumming and catatonic grind of the instrumentals is killer. The vocals have really epic raw edge to them and everything comes together into this barrage of brutality. This is some incredibly tight and heavy Death Metal with a very modern feel many parts such as the drums and productions but features some nice older fashioned riffs as well as the more modern melodies. Overall this was a really strong opening piece.
02. What Lies Beyond storms in with more surging and groovy guitars. The drums hammer out punches that all hit hard as hell, everything create huge impact and skilfully building to absolute mayhem. The furious assaults are filled with aggression and the band simply dish out this fury with total confidence that really comes across in the music. The blistering dissonance adds a darker undertone to the music that is incredibly well written and executed with brilliance. While this is not overtly “Technical Death Metal” there is certainly some majorly progressive influence on the songwriting. Once more this song storms out fury while also including some gorgeously pristine melodies. The guitar solo was total face melter too! Great work.
03. Vengeance Striketh convulses into fruition with intensely harsh attack across the board. Each song flows pretty well together, reusing a lot of the same elements but doing so in a way that does not get boring or entirely predictable. There is little leading up to the absolutely incredible attacks, which work really well, but I think would be improved with a touch of suspense. The precision and sheer drive of the music is superbly impressive and hits with such high velocity that you cannot resist banging your head along to this. I am sure this track would be awesome live too. The guitar solo soars so beautifully and elegantly which for me is the best part of this song. Another really strong piece indeed.
04. Nothingness of Being ferociously grinds in with such vitriol and menacing grooves. The drums hammer out hits once more with gruelling and brutal guitars that match the guttural fury of the vocalist perfectly. The bass tone is really strong and filled with warmth on this song where it is noticeably more audible (certainly a good thing). The flow of the riffs is immaculate and really packs so much epic groove within them. The fluster of the track is pretty convulsive and really caught me off guard a couple of times with it’s furious bite. This track seemed really smooth which I very much enjoyed. It definitely sounds like (and I noticed this on the other songs too in parts) the guitars seem to use a lot of octaves rather than a straight forward power chord which really elevates the more melodic side of things. The ending had much more tension to it that really worked a treat as I predicted the use of such an element would, this is followed by grisly and damn heavy slower sections with gorgeous lead work. Fantastic!
05. All Hope Destroyed is another piece the drops right into complete mayhem with full speed and no holds barred. The relentless instrumentals are topped with faster growls and everything has such a phenomenal intensity to it that just tears right through you. The intricate riffs are definitely the highlight of this track for me, they have a really nice, punchy At The Gates vibe to them in parts, while others go for all out tremolo fury. The cascading maniacal guitars with mental blast beats worked really well for the intensity of the piece, still not neglecting the more melodic parts though which add a lot more momentum than just only utilising speeds, certainly very well balanced. Once more the soulful guitar solo really did shine through on this song for me. This piece was pretty epic, once again.
06. Portal of Myriad finally gives us more built in beginnings. This does not last long but all the same gave the following barraging assaults a lot more shock value and impact to them. This song pretty immediately has a quite strong feel of Behemoth to it that sounds really cool. It is much darker in sound and creates a far more atmospheric soundscape with a less violent approach. That being said, the song is still blisteringly fast and packed with insane musicianship and gruesome vocals but just seeming slightly more reserved this time around. Personally I really enjoyed the slight variation this song offered and really allowed the album to grow into something somewhat more diverse. Certainly an interesting and unique piece that definitely stands out to me. Excellent stuff with a killer ending!
07. Dark Age of Ruin is immediate beautiful and rich in sound. The gruelling and huge atmospherics with tons of force just come in with such strength. There is an unsettling discordance among the blistering fury and speed that really hits all the right spots to make something intense and uniquely brilliant. This song is an utter rampage into extremity that is gripping from start to end. The whole piece was monolithic and just totally hypnotising to me. The chugging bite of the riffs really kicks your teeth in too. Brilliantly done.
08. Upon Desolate Sands opens with some crawling riffs and haunting female vocals, setting a much more sombre and eerie vibe that I just love. The pummelling assaults are so powerfully put together and filled with emotive grace that just sings from every instrument. The vocal performance has a more old school feel to it that works really well with the more slow burn approach of the song. Again there appears to be some atmospheric elements drawn from Black Metal as we have heard on a couple of occasions in this album, in my opinion giving it even more strength and appeal. This track was much simpler than many of the others but still draws me in just as much with its more spacious atmosphere. Another impressive piece for sure.
09. For Whom We Have Lost is the last track of the album, I have no idea how they are going to end things so I am intrigued before even beginning the song. Now to find out! The song draws in with beautiful guitars and much more melancholy than we have heard on any part of the album. The guitars do really soar (an expression I have probably overused but oh well) yet again in a stunning manner. The guitar and bass almost seem to be singing a lullaby while underneath furious kick drums just fire out hits. I really love how this sounds and then goes into a more funeral march style with some excellent lead work. This closing piece really gorgeously draws out the album with a glorious final bout of stunningly precise musicianship.

This is some incredibly well evolved Death Metal, including elements from older and more modern styled, some more progression and melody than the average band and overall it was really skilfully put together. An incredibly entertaining release! For me there could have been a touch more building up to certain parts but otherwise this is a very enjoyable album that I would still definitely recommend. -7.5/10