Hate Eternal - I, Monarch
Earache Records - MOSH286CD - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
Hate Eternal have finally made the album that they've been threatening to unleash on us since Erik Rutan began moonlighting from his
Morbid Angel with the ever-evolving trio (now recently expanded to a quartet) of musicians hired to help put forward his own version of blasting, aggression-fuelled brutality.
I, Monarch shows leaps forward in progression from the group's last effort, presumably a result of Rutan's departure from
Morbid Angel to concentrate on his brainchild.
Derek Roddy's inimitable, inhumanly precise and high-velocity drumming perfectly complement Rutan's jaw-dropping axework, while Randy Piro adds extra layers to the bottom-end bludgeon of Rutan's most accomplished production to date. The guitar tone slashes, scythes and roars like some PCP-and-coked-up trio of Hydra heads, the kick drums batter away like machine pistons on overdrive, and Rutan's multi-layered vocals roar and scream away on top with practically unparallelled aggression. The songs, too, have improved - Rutan has opened up his vision to include elements as diverse as a backing didgeridoo section (no, really) and tribal-sounding hand-percussion, whilst the disorientating series of syncopated guitar/kick sucker punches that signifies the beginning of 'The Victorious Reign' is a particular album highlight.
However, don't let all this talk of progression and experimentation lull you into believing that
Hate Eternal have softened up - this is still a full-steam ahead, blasting cluster fuck of a brutal death metal album from beginning to end. For that reason, those looking for variation and atmosphere from their death metal should steer well clear. For the rest of us, though - this is brutality done
right.
9/10
Official Hate Eternal Website
Official Earache Records Website
