Fury & Flames

God fucking damnit, I knew this was going to happen. I went out and bought the new Hate Eternal album, not even a week after selling my copy of "I, Monarch". I could shoot myself in the big toe right now for being so stupid, but instead I'll take all my frustration out on this "album". I hated "I, Monarch" with a passion, so I avoided Hate Eternals material for a very long time. That was until I, for whatever reason, checked out the single "Bringer of Storms" for their newest album. It was ok. It definitely had aggression, which I liked, so a few weeks after that I went out and bought "Fury and Flames". This is a mistake I will regret for a very, very long time.

Maybe I was just looking for an excuse to like Hate Eternal, or maybe it's because I have too much time and money. Regardless, this album is absolutely terrible. It took me about three tracks to really see what was going on here. Many, many times the same nagging question kept slipping into my mind. "Where are the RIFFS!?". I can count on one hand the number of times an audible riff is played on this entire album, and when I can make some out, it's stuff my little brother can play. So then, ladies and gentlemen, if there are no riffs to speak of what does that leave us with? Thats right, drums and bass. We're left with a snare drum that is all too loud and makes its presence known far too many times. Really, what were you expecting from drums on a Hate Eternal album? Variety? Wrong.

Of course we have bass god Alex Webster on this album. Surely he can add some flavor to this tragedy! No, sorry, he doesn't. His bass coupled with the drums gives off this annoying rumbling sound, and it is the same, constant sound in every god damn song. And of course that retarded orangutan Erik Rutan's bellows and the banshee bitch screeches of their equally incompetent second guitarist really don't help matters. So that means every song sounds like a four and a half minute elephant fart mixed with idiots yelling in the backround. Great.

I listened to this album in my car, and I'll admit the stereo is pretty bass heavy. So, being the nice guy I am, I gave this a shot on my Zune, thinking the sound would change. Again, three tracks was all it took to realize this is not my cars fault, but this horribly produced albums. I immediately took this shit off my beloved piece of technology, fearing it had somehow been infected by a digitized version of down-syndrome. Perhaps you'll notice I haven't given the album a zero, which it really does deserve. Well it does have one thing going for it. Intensity. On more than one occasion this album had my adrenaline going. But really, if I want adrenaline I'll masturbate with my bedroom door open while my parents are home. So, what I'm saying is, this album serves no purpose what so ever.

Insults aside, I can't stress enough how terrible this album is. It's the same tick-tick drumming we've all heard before, the bass is there, but sounds like an earthquake (not a good thing surprisingly), and there are practically no riffs. What is death metal with out good, aggressive, audible riffs? Death metal with no riffs is eating spaghetti with no sauce. It's bland, it's unrewarding, and at the end of the day, it's just fucking stupid. There isn't a single good track on this album, except the first three minutes of "Bringer of Storms", and couple seconds in "Hell Envenom" and "Whom the Gods May Destroy". Other than that, there is no reason for this album to exist. It needs to be destroyed, stricken from history, and is definitely the album to beat in the "Worst Album of the Year" category.

This album has the fury, but the flames from this abomination couldn't properly cook Ramen fucking Noodles. Avoid at all costs.