Out 27 February, 2026
Via Pulverised Records
Words by: Liam Hedges
Before listening to Revenge From Beyond, the debut release from Hating Life, I decided to do my homework, and listen back to the band’s namesake(s). For that we must look back at an example of an uncompromising Swedish death metal band, Grave. A number of their releases bear the name Hating Life, the first being a demo from 1989 with that title, the second is the rerecording of the same song on their debut album Into the Grave, and finally it is the name of the fourth album from Grave released in 1996. With such ties back to the legendary sounds of old school Swedish death metal, Hating Life promises a lot.
The homage to Grave continues very directly with the title of the first track of this release; Into The Grave which, as previously mentioned, is the title of the debut album from Grave. This track is a short, moody piano piece which effectively establishes an opening atmosphere to the rest of the release. The Eternal Embrace immediately introduces the most iconic component of Swedish death metal, the HM-2 pedal. Guitars drenched in HM-2 filth, blasting drums and gutturals, Hating Life showcases old school death metal. Across this release you will find moody doomy sections as well as the classic chainsaw riff, track three, A Somber Night being a great example of this.
Track four, Rebellion Against The Vile (what a name for a track) has the doomy passages, moving into faster drum driven sections. The vocals are a hollow low guttural, with a cavernous feel. The vocal style is not particularly varied across the release, but this fits perfectly into this style of death metal, the main focus is on those distortion drenched guitars and the changing paces of the overall track.
Revenge from Beyond, the title track and only single prior to this release, kicks things off with a faster opening and develops into what is the most energetic track of the album. The final track, The Sense of Fear starts off with a low tuned bass section before trading between doomy building sections and fast blasty chainsaw riffs, ultimately creating an exciting and diverse track to close the debut release of Hating Life.
My intention is not to explain each track, but bring up some stylistic highlights to help piece together the sound of Hating Life. Realistically, if you like Swedish death metal, I would hope that you haven’t gotten to this point of reading and just gone to listen to it for yourself!
But briefly onto other components of this release, the mix is very much old school feel with a raw drum sound, however each instrument sits nicely side by side with guitars that are clearly audible. The result of this mix forms a cavernous feel to the release which really works for me.
Next up is that art, how sick! Very old school again with the simple black on white and the skull circle which would honestly make such a good tattoo.
Final piece before my summary, this project is just two guys, with Javier Manzano providing his voice and Santiago Cavero from Ataraxy covering everything else including the recording and mixing.
This release is very much up my alley, it should be obvious if you are into Grave or any HM-2 driven Swedish death metal bands that you will also enjoy this. I said at the start of this review that the release promises a lot, and I would say Hating Life has delivered.
I’ve personally been back on yet another Runemagick (Swedish death/doom) kick and so this whole release really hit the spot! I would love a physical copy of this album…
Off for now to see if I can buy the CD release,
Metal Cult 666
