HATE

One of the oldest Polish death metal bands, and one of the few in the world bearing hatred in its very name — which, incidentally, suggests there isn't actually that much hatred out there (try counting on your own time how many bands have names starting with, say, "necro" or "anal"). Some have already accused the Poles of abandoning the ideals of true brutal death; others dislike the band's increasing use of melodic passages on recent releases; some decry the excessive modernity of the later material, while others complain about a drift toward black metal territory. I won't lie — all of these claims are absolutely fair, but their significance should not be overstated, and besides, one man's meat is another man's poison. In other words: to each their own. Yes, there's more melody, but is there more saccharine sweetness or, heaven forbid, sentimentality? Not in the slightest. A bit less brutality — yes; a bit more blackened flavor — also yes; but has the material become less interesting as a result? Not at all — it has simply become different. Musicians' creative tastes grow and evolve, and treating the Poles as though they are frozen in the early '90s is fundamentally wrong. The only thing I might concede — indulging my own subjectivity (and why not, I can afford it!) — is the modernity of the musical material, which I personally detest. But since when writing reviews, subjective impressions are typically addressed after objective ones, the album receives a well-deserved high score.