The Infernal Depths of Hatred

"The Infernal Depths of Hatred," is the debut album of Swedish death metal band Anata. I initially bought this album because I was looking for a good tech death band. I wasn't by any means disappointed, but I was surprised by what I heard.

Anata is definitely a good tech death metal band. There is absolutely no doubt about that. In their more aggressive moments, they're similar to bands like Cryptopsy and their fellow countrymen Dismember. The opening track, "Released When You're Dead," along with tracks two through four, and "Aim Not at the Kingdom High," are prime examples of the bands tech death side. The guitarists, Fredrik Schalin and Andreas Allenmaker display a technical mastery of their instruments.

And then you get to "Slain Upon his Altar," and everything changes. The band suddenly goes from technical death metal to a much more Gothenburg influenced style of playing that lasts until the seventh track on the album. Here the guitars start playing a style that is reminiscent of early In Flames, also from Sweden. "Slain Upon his Altar," opens up with a beautiful acoustic melody that for a brief moment makes me want to classify Anata as melodic death metal. Even on the faster tracks, such as "Under Azure Skies," the band still plays beautiful acoustic melodies.

The influence of the Gothenburg scene is also apparent in Fredrik Schalin's vocals. Schalin uses a style that appears widely on melodic death metal albums, and is similar to Anders Friden, although slightly higher. This works very well for the melodic, yet technical death metal that the band plays.

The drums on "The Infernal Depths of Hatred," are very good, and remind the listener that this is tech death and not melodic death metal. Robert Petersson plays the standard rapid-fire blast beats you'd expect from other bands in the genre, and in the end of the day isn't anything unique.

The lyrics that Anata writes are very thought provoking. They're highly philosophical in nature, as well as anti-Christian. But unlike bands like Deicide, Aeon, Immolation, and others, Anata express their dislike of Christianity in a much more poetic, scholarly way, not the juvenile "fuck your god," style lyrics that anybody could write.

I found "The Infernal Depths of Hatred" to be an excellent album and after hearing it, rushed out to purchase "Dreams of Death and Dismay."