Hate Eternal.
Hate Eternal are one of the purest and finest American death metal bands still playing today.
If you are a death metal aficionado (like we are) you will be well aware that Florida has been a hotbed of activity since 1980. Such royalty that has belched forth from the scene include Death, Obituary, Morbid Angel Deicide and Atheist so you know it’s the real deal. From such a brutal landscape, Hate Eternal were formed in 1997 by Tim Yeung, Jared Anderson and Erik Rutan, who has remained the sole founding member.
Hate Eternal have such a raging torrent of riffs at their disposal, mainly thanks to Erik Rutan’s superb axemanship and compositional skills. You really aren’t a slouch on guitar if you get a call-up to Morbid Angel AND Cannibal Corpse in the course of your musical career! Two albums were born in the early period; ‘Conquering The Throne’ and ‘King Of All Kings’, both absolute rippers in their own right. The title track and ‘Powers That Be’ crush out the gate, fast and aggressive.
‘I, Monarch’ followed on with a fantastic production value attached to it, one of the best sounding Death metal albums of the decade upon its release in this writer's opinion. Derek Roddy destroys the kit on this record; listen to the drums on ‘The Victorious Reign’ and ‘Path To The Eternal Gods’ and behold the speed and conviction! Rutan is in fine form too, his vocals are guttural and low yet he can alter the mood to avoid falling into ‘vacuum growl’ territory and convey emotion.
Credit: svartheim.org
With a signing to Metal Blade records, Hate Eternal released ‘Fury & Flames’ with a lineup change (Alex Webster and Jade Simonetto) to much acclaim. Rutan stated this was an emotional recording to complete following the death of Jared Anderson. It's a bombastic effort; check out ‘Bringer Of Storms’ to get your tatas blown off! ‘Phoenix Amongst the Ashes’ followed in 2011 with standout tracks for us being ‘Thorns of Acacia’ and ‘The Art of Redemption’. Both showcase Rutan’s blend of old-style death metal barrage and evil dissonance, he switches from one to the other like he’s cutting through swathes of bloody hordes.
‘Infernus’ is a baroque work of art, an ancient brass and iron siege weapon spewing flame everywhere. Don’t believe us, listen to ‘Locust Swarm’, ‘The Stygian Path’ or ‘Zealot, Crusader of War’. Then pick your jaw up off the floor, it’s dirty down there and you look silly. Hate Eternal really is that good when they get going! This brings us neatly to their most up-to-date release; ‘Upon Desolate Sands’.
‘What Lies Beyond’ has an incredibly catchy riff and blast for a Hate Eternal song; Erik Rutan’s sliding power chords lurching forth like a horror from the warp, twisting and snarling. ‘All Hope Destroyed’ is a blast fest, some rapid double bass drum work courtesy of John Longstreth, truly masterful and backed up by the crisp production. Last pick of this album goes to ‘Dark Age of Ruin’ for pure darkness of spirit, coldness and cruelty in execution.
Hate Eternal are one of the purest and finest American death metal bands still playing today. As long as Erik Rutan still draws breath, we are damn near certain he will continue to fashion quality metal, here is a person who lives to write and record, constantly refreshing the genre with mastercrafted riffs from the forge. Much respect.
