Review Summary: The disk saw of hatred.
It is easy to get lost in the famous Norwegian duo's enormous discography, that's why some of their albums end up a bit overlooked, less popular. Same case for 'Hate Them' as well, but this album deserves some love.
After some struggling times for both members: 'Hate Them' was born. And the creation is an ugly, rusty but highly energic album, delivering riffs of hell. As anyone would expect from the crust-punk influenced era, the song structures are rather simple, but effective: tons of crushing riffs with lots of tempo changes - which is one of the biggest strength of the album. The guitarwork by Nocturno Culto is super massive and dominant, and personally, the guitar tone is one of the best I've ever heard: it is ugly, rusty yet super heavy - fueling the riffage. Behind the drumkit, Fenriz did a really great job here, as he is following the guitar. His simplistic style really shines in this record, and as you would expect from a "drum-snob", the drums sound very organic and are perfectly placed in the mix. Unlike in the following record ('Sardonic Wrath') the bass has less impact on the album's overall sound, stays mostly deeply sunk in the mix nice and clean, following the heavy riff-storm. The vocals are really great, Nocturno's unique harsh and raspy voice fits very well to the overall sound - loud but not dominant in the mix, with pretty understandable lyrics. (Fenriz wrote some sickly good lines for this one!)
Alltogether, this album deserves much more love than it usually gets, because its massiveness. And not to mention the crushing riffs!
"Black Metal is the devil's fuel."
