Album Details

• Artist: Hate Eternal
• Album: Fury & Flames
• Label: Metal Blade
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2008-08-12

Over the last decade or so, very few extreme metal bands can claim to be as influential and devastating as Hate Eternal. From their underground roots through their benchmark "I, Monarch" release all the way up to Fury & Flames, their debut release for Metal Blade records and 4th full-length to date. Improving upon their newly developed brutal death/hardcore sound might seem an impossibility to some, but they might have pulled off just that.

Erik Rotan truly makes this band what it is. While most other positions have been filled and re-filled, his continued dedication to this project is totally respected here. On Fury & Flames, the band sets out on a no-nonsense jaunt through the history of death metal. From it's bitter roots (opener Hell Envenom, Para Bellum, Proclamation Of The Damned) to it's more modern destructive tendencies (Bringer Of Storms, The Funerary March and my favorte, the utterly breath-taking "Whom Gods May Destroy". To accurately describe the sound would be trivial; think a more hardcore influenced Behemoth or Nile without the egyptian themes and you've got a fair idea.

All said, this has to be one of the better death metal albums of the year. No frills, no electronic bleeps and blips, no nothing but brutality at every given chance. Like a blunt instrument to the cranium, Fury & Flames will leave you dazed and highly impressed. 

User Reviews and Comments