HANDFUL OF HATE

I've come across a fair number of black metal albums the past couple of months that are of the solid-but-not-sensational variety, HANDFUL OF HATE's "Gruesome Splendour" being yet another such album. All that really means if this Italian bunch is one of several black metal acts taking cues from the likes of DARK FUNERAL and MARDUK, which is not a bad thing, assuming that it's your thing. As with the doom genre, so much of the success of a black metal album has to do with that nearly indefinable thing called "feeling". Bands either get it or they don't. In short, HANDFUL OF HATE gets it. A very loud, very heavy, and very crisp sound mix doesn't hurt either. The chaos created by these hateful fellows packs quite a punch.

The blasts beats come in waves, as would be expected, interrupted at just the right moments for a pace change or the dreadful rings of guitar chord. The appropriately titled "Livid" opens the album, blasting and slashing from here to Armageddon, continuing with "Theory of Perfection", itself offering the occasional changeup and solidified by an especially razor sharp main riff. And here's a surprise, the attacking continues unabated through "Used to Discipline" and up until a mid-tempo break during "Tied, Whipped…Educated", which of courses continues with the band's blasting ways. Don't let the death march during the first half of "Grotesque in Pleasure, Rotten in Vice" fool you either; you can guess what happens to the pace afterward. In fact, the only prolonged break to speak of occurs during the semi-crawl of "Ejaculation Dementiae", finally fading out and leaving the room filled with smoking embers. Overall, a little more arrangement variety wouldn't hurt, but it's a very minor complaint.

What else do you need to know? Do you like your black metal played at blinding speeds and chock full of razor wire guitar riffing? "Gruesome Splendour" should do the trick. In a nutshell, above average and solidly performed, with a tough-ass sound to boot.