### Hate: Erebos

#### 26/01/11 || Habakuk

Two thoughts on this:

a) Wow, what an absolutely shameless Behemoth rip-off.

b) Wow, this is pretty good.

Hate truly have absolutely no identity of their own on this album. I haven’t heard their earlier stuff, but I heard they weren’t bad. That didn’t prepare me for this, though. “Erebos” is a carbon copy of contemporary Behemoth, it sounds exactly the same. The vocals, the guitars, the drumming, the grooves, the harmonics, the Poland, you name it, everything. Even the stage outfits and make-up are the same. Luckily for Hate, the quality is equally high as with the big B. And that is about the only excuse I allow for this sort of approach. If you copy, then at least do it well.

Luckily for me, I enjoy Behemoth a lot, but I’m not a religious follower of theirs. This group of people might tend to hate Hate (hate hate hate…) and their guts with a passion, and I wouldn’t want to have to defend the band before them. “Erebos” is a complete rip-off, no doubt. Now while I don’t applaud that, in this particular case I have no real problem with it either. Questionable as their creative achievements might be, from the pure craftsmanship perspective, the result Hate present to the world is damn good. The songs flow well, the sound is dark and majestic, the production is top notch.

Normally, this would receive a “7/solid stuff but nothing new” score here, but that is not the case. Why? Because of the word “solid”. The material is simply more than just “solid” and I truly enjoy it. It also helps that this was Hate’s first shot with me.

If you, Hate, are happy with being mere craftsmen instead of artists, go ahead. Just don’t expect to get away with it that well again, because another album with 0% creative contribution from your side will show me that you’re not even trying.

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Listenable Records
- Website: www.hate-metal.com
- Band
- Adam the first sinner: guitar, vocals
- Destroyer: guitars
- Mortifier: bass
- Hexen: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Genesis
- 02. Lux aeterna
- 03. Erebos
- 04. Quintessence of higher suffering
- 05. Trinity moons
- 06. Hero cults
- 07. Transsubstance
- 08. Hexagony
- 09. Wrists
- 10. Luminous horizon