The Project Hate MCMXCIX - Bleeding The New Apocalypse
Season Of Mist
Industrial/Orchestral Death Metal
6 songs (65:43)
Release year: 2011
Season Of Mist
Reviewed by Jaime
After a fair amount of time swimming in the backwaters of a smaller, less renowned label The Project Hate MCMXCIX (The Project Hate from now on, if you don't mind) have finally be picked up by someone a bit bigger and with the ability to push them further out into the public view. It's always good to see a band that has their own unquestionable identity and rather wide ranging sonic palette being noticed after a decade's worth of hard work.

For the uninitiated The Project Hate are a melting pot of various strains of Swedish death metal, ranging from the old classic groove to slightly more modern melodeath (before it jumped the shark that is), as proven in opening track Iesus Nazarenus, Servus Mei which thunders along with vocalists Ruby Roque and Jörgen Sandström taking the verse and choruses respectively before introducing the second major element of the band: the electronics. Some bands have a habit of using them rather... well, badly. They’re an afterthought that’s usually rushed in at the last minute and sits badly in the mix. This isn’t the case with The Project Hate. The balance between each component is honed to a tee, allowing the heavier death metal parts to shine brighter in contrast to the moodier electronic parts, and when their paths cross the end result is a combination of their best traits swirled together with the third core foundation of the band, the orchestral parts. The orchestral sections are a little hit and miss though, while they shine in They Shall All Be Witnesses with their low end legato string drones and excellent fusion with the synths and in The Serpent Crowning Ritual where they subtly expand the atmosphere of the track into something grand. But they also career towards the cheesy and flat in the outro of A Revelation of Desecrated Heavens, where they just sound far too fake. The electronic sections have slightly fewer issues in that regard, the intro to the same song sounds rather house like thanks to the piano samples which slightly dampens the mood before the song kicks off in earnest, but at the same time they have the balls to use another famous house sound, the organ bass line in Summoning Majestic War, but this time around it works surprisingly well, adding an odd little percussive bounce to that section. But to go back to the actual metal parts, the riffs on show are massively chunky, effortlessly groovy and the solos and leads are very nice and surprisingly varied which is great to hear, as often guitarists have their one trick and’ll stick with it. Very good indeed, and it’s all rounded off by the stellar production job.

The album as a whole isn’t a simple listen. There’s a lot going on and it’s broken down into six tracks that average about ten minutes each. It’s not bitesize material in any way, shape or form, but its massive scope and multiple layers definitely urge you to give it a few repeated listens. The album starts off stupidly strong and finishes on an equally high note, but there’s a bit of a lull in the middle where things seem to drag on a little. It’s a shame, but in a way it’s not a bad thing, allowing you to catch your breath before the grand finale. The end result is something that the band should certainly be proud of, a melding of various influences that few others can do to such a majestic degree, never mind those attempting to have a stab at each individual element. If you’re bored of the usual strains of death metal that try and shoehorn in random string sections, drum machines or plod out the standard riffs ad nauseam then this should be on your playlist.
Killing Songs :
Iesus Nazarenus, Servus Mei, They Shall All Be Witnesses, The Serpent Crowning Ritual, Bring Forth Purgatory
Jaime quoted 88 / 100
Other albums by The Project Hate MCMXCIX that we have reviewed:
The Project Hate MCMXCIX - Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate reviewed by Alex and quoted 70 / 100
The Project Hate MCMXCIX - When We Are Done...Your Flesh Will Be Ours reviewed by Paul and quoted 75 / 100
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