Hate Eternal
Conquering the Throne
Wicked World/Earache
A Morbid Angel ominously looms over Hate Eternal’s Conquering the Throne , but this isn’t the first time such derivation has taken flight – in fact, its wingspan enshrouds at least a third of the black- and death-metal undergrounds. Still, that’s no excuse for re-thrashing the Tampa masters’ oft-aspired-to/never-upstaged formula. So who’s going to tell this to Hate Eternal? Me? Well, maybe not in person.
On its debut album, Hate Eternal – featuring ex-members of Ripping Corpse and Suffocation – sprints through a slew of brainiac guitar riffs, most of which wholly lack the ambiance or melodicism of the giant Angel, the 11-song formless mess blast-beaten to the pace of a jackhammer…through the entire album ; no dynamics allowed here, sir – or originality, for that matter. Accordingly, Hate Eternal even gives Trey Azagthoth’s ingeniously scatterbrained solos the old college try, but as a tiny, green celluloid poet once quipped, “try you must – fail you will”; and Hate Eternal has nothing on Yoda. Conquering the Throne ‘s title is all too misleading. For a more accurate picture, try some of its song titles: “Nailed to Obscurity,” “Saturated in Dejection,” etc. – talk about form and content matching up! Now that takes some talent.
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