Review Summary: Everything a metalhead could ever want.
Do you like metal? Apologies for my ambiguity, actually. Do you like GOOD metal?? Do you want to be sonically torn limb from limb by a group of titanic New Jersey musicians just trying to find their way in a music scene that is so often filled with a cacophonous but somehow still sterile humdrum of sound? Do you like blast beats? Do you like insane tremolo picking? Do you want to love your life for 51 minutes and 36 seconds? If these don’t describe you, then leave.
Your kind is not welcome here.
Hath came out with their second full-length album last year entitled All That Was Promised. Having never heard of these guys before last year, nothing was actually ever promised to me. But boy am I glad I received this promise because this album is awesome. For an extreme metal album, All That Was Promised hit that perfect bullseye balance of both immense consistency but also insane memorability. Songs such as “Iosis”, which perambulates many different varied musical sections, or the monolithic closer “Name Them Yet Build No Monument” have a sense of uniqueness with well-crafted riffs, top-notch drumming, and Frank Albanese’s ferocious roars and shrieks. However, there is also always consistent extremity interwoven with a subdued atmosphere to get lost in, and it all works together for the metalhead’s purest pleasure.
With All That Was Promised, Hath have filled the hole in my heart that was left by post-2008 Opeth. The textures in the music, as well as the vocals, are absolutely reminiscent of the Swedish musical giants. In fact, this is what I imagine Opeth would sound like if their sound went a little more evil and they trailed the black metal path instead of the progressive rock one. Frank Albanese is a major highlight of this album for me. Like I said, he can growl the most ferocious yet still decipherable roars a la Mikael Akerfeldt. But he can also escalate to the highest-pitched black metal style shrieks a la Lord Worm (see the ending of “Decollation”, another highlight of this record). The guitar riffs are nothing to scoff at either, as they frequently are very well put together and have a nice alternation of speed and insane chunk (the bit of Iosis where Frank begins “an unnatural difference” makes me want to kill everything in sight). The drumming is also excellent, often alternating between blast beats and slower, more jazzy bits. The cymbal work was especially a highlight for me as well.
I’d say from all that, All That Was Promised can be summed up as everything a metalhead could ever want. I’ve been obsessed with this album and you should be too. Go support this band. Go buy this album. Go listen to all their other stuff. The South of Heaven meets a Borderlands 1 boss arena album cover is calling your name. Amen.
