I, Monarch

After Hate Eternal`s last release called “King of all kings”, I was almost at the point where I would consider them the best brutal DM band ever, but this release has changed my opinion a bit. I, monarch is not a bad album at all, in fact it is one of the better albums released this year. What I dislike with it is the monotone, the predictability and the annoying fact that you are listening to similar songs over and over again. Hate eternal are perhaps one of the fastest and most brutal bands in the death metal scene right now, but if they don’t manage to compose more original music they will definitely lose a lot of fans. This album has a lot of great moments and several astonishing riffs. Erik Rutan’s vocals are also better than ever, creating a dark and majestic atmosphere in most of the songs. His lyrics (about paganism, anti-Christianity, strength etc) on this record are maybe the best he has ever made, but I miss the entirety given by Jared Anderson’s lyrics on King of all kings.

Due to Jared’s drug problems HE obtained a new bassist named Randy Piro. He seems very good, but the bass is bare audible on the album, so it is hard to judge. He contributes with some vocals and two songs on the album; “Behold Judas and “Sons of darkness”. Randy Piro will probably have a great future in Hate eternal, considering his fast integration in the band.

Now over to the album’s biggest surprise, the supreme drummer, Derek Roddy. I didn’t think it was possible to play any better than Derek did on the two recent albums, but apparently it is. With an amazing discography and insane drum skills, I would not call it an exaggeration to appoint Derek Roddy as a drum god. His drumming is technical, extremely fast and from time to another very groovy. He also gets a chance to play a song without blast beats, an instrumental titled “The faceless one”. On the opening track, “Two demons”, he really kicks several asses with his insane speed and enormous technique.

As you can’t call this album bad (because it isn’t), you can call it disappointing. “Behold Judas”(definitely the best song) was available for download some months before the record came out, and I was honestly expecting the album to be at equal standard to this song, which it unfortunately wasn’t. In my opinion this song is a mixture of all the positive elements on I, monarch; speed, fast vocals, nice leads and a bit groove.

Although I have given a bit critique so far in the review, don’t miscomprehend what I am trying to say. This is in fact a good album. Just listen to songs like “Behold Judas”, “Victorious reign” and “To know our enemies”. The slow part with the nice cymbal work on “It is our will” is also very good (the complete song is nothing to brave about, though). But the album as a whole gets a bit boring and doesn’t have that much to offer compared to other DM releases this year. So a conclusion for Hate eternals newest effort would be that it is a good album with inconceivable speed and marvelous vocals, but a masterpiece? No…