Glorification of the End

Ancient Hatred is an extreme metal band from Finland, not that that fact alone says much, however, the term "Finnish" is unusually apt to describe this band. The weird nature of certain Finnish bands like Demilich and the rest of the horde seems to be the main driver behind this band. The music on this record has an avant-garde vibe to it. The record is extremely dissonant, chaotic and monumentally visceral, any potential listener should be made aware beforehand that this is not your typical extreme metal record.

The guitarists seem to be heavily inspired by guitar work from a broad musical continuum, from Mayhem to Portal to Deathspell Omega. This band seemed to have embarked on the journey of bringing their ideas to life, with one main aim in mind, to produce unorthodox music which although might differ from the rest of the black metal herd, it does so in an unpretentious manner and the band obviously makes it clear that they have a certain healthy degree of respect towards the pioneers of black metal.

The guitar work is mixed between frantic tremolo picking and dissonant arpeggios that serve to muddy up the atmosphere and make the whole experience more unique and truly haunting. Even though Ancient Hatred have been around for almost a decade and a half, "Glorification of the End" is only their second album. To be honest, the previous works from this band, pale in comparison to the music that is present on this album. With such a small discography to rely on heading into this album, I found myself completely baffled. I was not expecting any sort of experimentation from this band, however, I believe that they spent the time in between their two full-lengths fully discovering, polishing and mastering their new found sound.

Unfortunately however, certain tracks sound so similar that sometimes it is kind of hard to actually keep track of all the different tracks which all sound eerily similar. I think that this fact doesn't solely stem from the aural similarities in the notes, but also stems from the overarching atmosphere in which this album is so clearly set. That's basically my only problem with album, except for a few moments here and there where the bass sounds too thin to even differentiate from the total cluster-fuck of different elements uniting together. Anyone who is a fan of weird, unusual and chaotic black metal should give this album a try because it will surely leave a definitive impact on your soul.