Hatred - Chaos In The Flesh (Mini-CD)
Self-financed

Monique: It all started back in 1999 when Zeeland’s die-hard metal duo Peter&Peter decided to create an outlet for their Metallic creativity, and named it: Hatred. Within a year they produced a demo, which was quite well-received. Since then much has happened: a new guitarist came and went, a drummer went and came. Last year Hatred recorded this mini-CD ‘Chaos In The Flesh’ as a 4-piece, but the release of this mini-CD coincided with the second guitarist leaving the band. The rumblings within the band seem to have come to an end now though, and they have returned to a steady line-up of 3 members: Peter de Jonge (bass + vocals), Peter van der Schraaf (guitar) and Rob de Waardt (drums) working hard to back-up the release of this mini-CD with live performances. (see the Frontline concert review in this issue).

Enough of the background information for the moment …let us turn to the CD itself. It contains 4 powerful Death tracks, varied and filled with an abundance of catchy riffs. Whether the order of the 4 songs was determined after much discussion within the band, I do not know, but they certainly decided to go for the option of saving the best for last (and maybe leaving the listener wanting more?). The production is smooth yet powerful in its combination of studio quality and just that hint of rawness. A good result considering the band had a mere 2 days to record ‘Chaos In The Flesh’. As for the music itself: It is said the band is influenced by (old) Death, Slayer and Vader…I would like to add a touch of Morbid Angel-like arrangement to that. “Influenced” should be interpreted as “inspired by” instead of the usual “copy-cat style resemblance” because even though the band’s music may show hints of the aforementioned bands’ music it nevertheless has its own distinctive style.

The music sounds inviting enough on first audible contact, but one should (rather: must) give it a few spins to fully appreciate the variety in riffing and rhythm (fast oem-ta!!!) and “full throttle form start to end”-structure of the songs. None of your relaxed intros slowly working towards climactic eruptions and easing towards the end, the CD starts at full speed and – apart from a few relatively peaceful moments along the way - keeps up the force for some 20 minutes.

No complains at all? Well….a good reviewer can always find something to moan about. The vocals are a bit similar on all 4 tracks and lack surprising changes, but since they accompany an otherwise varied song-structure it is not a problem really. All in all a very fine, enticing mini-CD….a shame it is only a mini-CD, though…any plans for a full-length release, guys?

Rating: 85/100

http://www.hatred.nl