54 out of 100 ? I couldn't disagree more. It's the first album since the debut and maybe the follow-up that I actually like and love listening in repeat...
Sure it's a bit easy here and there but the guitars are memorable, the choruses are punchy and melodic, a nice break from the death square aggression of the verses, that makes a great contrast. I like the clean vocals, although it's been done to death. But OMFG the guitars !!!! Some of the best guitars I've heard in a long long time. Even though it's not crazy technical, the melodies carry emotions... that's enough for me. The Song
The Hate I Bear is one of Norther's best.
Sure the debut is far away, and most fans of the band don't even like this pure jewel of Melodeath (Dreams of Endless War), that blows away almost every album on the surface of the planet, but well, we all have different taste
. I always thought hatebreeder was the 1 melodeath album if I had to choose one, but in the end, it didn't age as well as Dreams of Endless War ! Then some people say that it's too much Power Metal with harsh vocals, isn't that basically melodeath ? Cause COB does the same, except more progressive (or at least they used to be, now it's really more like Children of Boredom). If this is 54 / 100 then the last COB is 15 / 100 ...
I haven't decided on a final quote yet, hence my 8X / 100, but 80 is the minimum I would give that album. But then I like clean vox...
Just my 2 cents.
Chris
