Hate - Awakening Of The Liar

Hate is a Polish death metal band that has the misfortune of being popular enough to release albums on a steady basis but not being notable enough to attract decent attention. I actually have a lot memories attached to this band for some obtuse reason. I vividly remember discussing their (then) latest album (Awakening of the Liar) on now defunct DarkLyrics forums. I also remember downloading their songs from their homepage with my shitty 56k modem and so on. They even came to play in my hometown but by then I was heavily into noise and power electronics so I didn't really care to see them at that point in time (2008-2009). I heard they were really bad live though.

Their career sadly isn't all that great. After a bit of an rocky start they had a string of solid, melodic yet sufficiently heavy albums but later on they had an identity crisis in which they were trying really hard to be Behemoth. Their latest album came out in 2015 and it seemed like a return to form when I heard it so things are picking up for them I guess. Of the albums I like from them I think this is my favorite one and I feel like their style shines the most here. Every other album has some kind of problem which prevents it from being really great but it seems like everything was in its rightful place when they recorded this one.

The album is essentially a packed tremolo riff ride through the valley of death metal. The songs are written to be catchy, headbangy affairs and general crowd pleasing riffs and solos. Most follow a similar style in composition focused on well written aforementioned tremolo riffs with breakdown-ish parts that separate them. The band has a great sense of pacing so it never gets overwhelming or boring, they never dwell on one riff too much which makes them sound fresh on each new track.

Overall it's a great little (hidden?) gem from Poland. It's a shame this band gets constantly overshadowed by bands like Decapitated and such but I guess not everyone can be a winner.

Get it.