Hatesphere - To the Nines
Napalm Records
Groove/Death Metal
10 songs (34:34)
Release year: 2009
Hatesphere, Napalm Records
Reviewed by Thomas

What the fuck is modern thrash metal? Every single band that falls under this genre is ripping of The Haunted, and the last time I checked, they are melodic death metal. There’s nothing thrash about Hatesphere nor will it ever be. Trying to sound like a brutal death metal vocalist doesn’t make you thrash, baseless In Flames-like riffs doesn’t make you thrash, neither does soulless breakdowns nor lame melodic chugga-chugga choruses. This band, and this album more specifically is more than enough proof that thrash cannot and will not ever be modernized by death metal growls and groove metal riffs. There is a distinct difference here which I won’t bother getting into, but screwing around with your sound and experimenting in all kinds of directions will not help you achieve it. Oh and another thing, it’s more fun to watch the grass grow and get greener than listen to To the Nines.

To be honest, I approached this with enthusiasm, as I had previously heard a lot of good stuff about these guys as well as some positive comparisons to The Haunted who is one of the few melodeath bands I appreciate. The truth is that this is just more from the same weak genre with every weak characteristic intact. Empty riffs, annoying vocals that’ll make you want to strangle your 5-year old sister’s kitten and the same angst-ridden and “pissed off” lyrics you have suffered through over and over again. The riffs are scary repetitive and the drumming is so uncreative and bland that Lars Ulrich suddenly sounds like Mike Portnoy in comparison. The groove metal riffs is the closest you’ll come to thrash metal here, but these guys doesn’t invent anything nor do they bring anything else than a strong urge to push the stop-button so that you can finish whatever you were doing instead of wasting your time on boring uninspired crap like this.

There is absolutely nothing to gain here, and my expectations were quickly turned into disappointment, frustration and flat-out anger that led to the rant in the first paragraph. These guys can obviously play, and I don’t say that this is complete and utter awful shit of the likes I haven’t heard before. I’ve heard it all before as absolutely everything about this is average. Not awful in anyway nor anything better than average, hence the score. Every member of the band can handle their instruments perfectly, but they fail so miserably in the song-writing part that there is hardly anything that makes up for it except some less boring stuff like the title-track.

This whole package is wrapped into something that will lead you to believe you’ll get something of quality. Heavy guitars, harsh vocals, aggressive drumming etc. erh, no. Let’s quote the band on one of the songs from their previous album. “I’m fed up with your bullshit! I’m fed up with your lies”. Well ditto, it may be the huge disappointment this was but, this is indeed Cloaked in Shit.

Killing Songs :
Absolutely nothing about this is killer
Thomas quoted 49 / 100
Elias quoted 60 / 100
Other albums by Hatesphere that we have reviewed:
Hatesphere - Serpent Smiles And Killer Eyes reviewed by Dylan and quoted 62 / 100
Hatesphere - The Killing EP reviewed by Alex and quoted no quote
Hatesphere - Ballet of the Brute reviewed by Jay and quoted 75 / 100
Hatesphere - Bloodred Hatred reviewed by Crims and quoted 82 / 100
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