Review Summary: Hate is better than The Adversary in every way, and a must listen deathcore release.
If you read my last review, you know that Thy Art is Murder are a deathcore band from Blacktown Australia. They started making a small name for themselves with their debut 2010 LP, The Adversary. They really rose to power in the genre with this 2012 release entitled Hate.
Hate is a release that saw much more critical acclaim/success than their previous record did. Weather it be the label change from Skull and Bones to Halfcut, or simply that there was something that clicked with people. One big notable difference from The Adversary is that this record doesn’t try to go 100% “brutal” 100% of the time. The rhythms aren’t as fast paced, and there aren’t blast beats in every section throughout the entire record. This really works for them, it gives them a more mature sound, and gives each member’s musicianship a time to shine.
On The Adversary there was a lot of simple fast riffs and drumming tagging along with the rhythm of those riffs. Here it seems that Lee Stanton (drums), and Andy Marsh (guitars) really tried to write things that would separate their parts from each other’s and give a standout sound to each of the parts. It really did work. In songs such as Reign of Darkness and The Purest Strain of Hate, there are interesting riffs mixed with excellent drumwork without having to feed off of each other. Not to say that this happens on every song, I mean this is deathcore we are talking about. It is still breakdown heavy, and the drums drive the rhythm.
Breakdowns on this album aren’t frequent enough that it gets hard to listen to the album without being lost in breakdowns. They are actually placed extremely well, and add a heavier touch to a song that is already hitting you like a truck. The most notable of these for me are the two in Shadow of Eternal Sin (“You all will suffer”); (“Let the blood of all humanity spill”). There also some extremely fun leads on this album. They make it sound like they actually tried to write something decent, rather than their efforts onThe Adversary. On Shadow of Eternal Sin there is a short solo more towards the beginning that is very catchy and leads nicely into a breakdown. On the track Immolation, there is a faster solo in between vocal lines that doesn’t venture too far into the realm of creativity, but it certainly does a good job of catching the ear and interesting the reader in the rest of the song.
The drumwork on Hate isn’t all that incredible, but as I mentioned before, it is an improvement on the previous record. There is some very fun fills (Shadow of Eternal Sin]), and some incredibly fast blast beats that (Dead Sun for one). As far as vocals go, CJ McMahon is as good as ever, if not better. His vocal delivery has always been as strong as it can be. There are no boring moments when it comes to his brutal low growls, and his fearful his screams. One improvement for this album is that CJ seems to use more high screams than he previously had. The most notable of these are Dead Sun. While the screamed words/breakdown thing is a little overused, it can be forgiven due to the fact that CJ’s vocals improve this record in every way. Gates of Misery has the best example of this with the line “Run, if you think it will save you” followed by a slow breakdown; as well as the track Gates of Misery.
Overall, this album is incredible. There are really no boring moments. There isn’t a boring instrumental. The leads are all good, the breakdowns are placed perfectly, and the vocals compliment every aspect mentioned here. CJ is one of the best vocalists around. If you are into deathcore, this is a must listen.
Recommended Tracks: Reign of Darkness, Shadow of Eternal Sin, Dead Sun, Gates of Misery
