Hate In Flesh
The Human Curse EP
Independent
Release Date: 20 June 2015
Review by Dave Griffiths
Don’t you love that feeling when you discover a band for the first time and they are simply amazing. Suddenly you want to shout from the rooftops, text your favourite mate and download (legally) their back catalogue to give that a listen. Well that just happened to me as I gave Hate In Flesh’s latest album, The Human Curse, a listen. This album is nothing short of brilliant and the only downside is that it is an EP so therefore only has five tracks… seriously I could listen to these guys for hours at a time.
As much as I love the genre there has been some pretty bland death metal albums of late, albums where each track sound the same and they become a monotonous bore… that certainly isn’t the case for Lisbon’s heaviest sons Hate In Flesh. These guys hit the ground with brutal footsteps that could shake the earth. They maybe tagged as melodic death metal but there is no sign that melody at all on opening track Paradise Of Sins, which sees frontman Maiko Ramos’ death vocals, comes to the fore big time. The gang like war cries that litter this track make it the perfect battle song.
The melodic side of Hate In Flesh shines through a little on A Life Of Mistakes, which with it’s brilliant guitar ‘moments’ from it’s duelling guitarists becomes one of the best tracks on the album. But to be honest most of this album falls heavily into the pure death camp and nearly every track has that one thing about it that makes it memorable. Whether it be the brutal honesty of the very in-your-face Dementia Lives In Me or the pounding druffs and mind warping riff of the title track… there is always something.
Final track Believe In Better Days is another standout. Somehow Hate In Flesh manages to meld Jonathan Davis like screams into a death metal sound and also capture those famous Soulfly like war cries and meld the track into something very special indeed. This track alone makes you want to embrace Hate In Flesh as your new favourite band.
The Human Curse is one album that death metal fans have to add to their collection. This is the way all death metal should sound. Brutal, uncompromising with that little bit of something else as a twist that separates them from the herd. Yes, Hate In Flesh have one of the best names going around and now they back it up with a bloody brilliant sounding album. Meet you new favourite band, ladies and gentlemen.
