Label: Osmose Productions
Release date: April 25th, 2025
Three days later, April 25th, then Flesh Machine’s debut full-length, Hate Forest’s latest album came to the light of the day. But in the case of this project, I know I’m annoying with that, but for me something where only one person plays (in the past Roman had company, but from six years he’s alone in H.F.) will never ever be called a band, I probably should say that it saw darkness of the night. And this is how, at the very beginning of my scribble, I effectively discouraged everyone who doesn’t like black metal from reading further. And it means such individuals should be grateful to me, I think, because I saved them time and energy. Moreover, I’m sure my words will go only to the right addresses. I’m also sure that die-hard fans of black metal, and not only from Ukraine or even Central Europe, know Hate Forest very well and I don’t need to introduce it any further. And this certainly is due to the fact “Against…” was published by one of the best known in our metal world label – Osmose Productions. By the way, cooperation between Hate Forest and Osmose Productions has been ongoing since 2013.
This fact speaks for itself because the above-mentioned company isn’t used to cooperating for so long with random bands presenting low quality. Well, there can be nothing extraordinary in Roman’s work, but at the same time it’s undoubtedly well thought out. Of course, this isn’t about using any sophisticated means of expression. What is it, is not! This is most classic as hell Black Art in, to make it clear to everyone, because I have some associations with other Ukrainian hordes, Norwegian style. Roman gives the listener no respite, and dismissal is rare. We’re basically bombarded with blasts all the time, show no fucking mercy to listeners, which can be a huge burden for unaccustomed ears. And this is basically all I want to write about the music on “Against…”. First of all, those who read these words know perfectly well what this type of Black Art is. And secondly, in my opinion, there’s no point in writing about this topic, because this type of creativity is based mainly on feelings. And it means that music as such is quite primitive, which mostly has nothing to do with musicians’ skills, devoid of any technical performances, etc. You may even get the impression that you listen to one song for almost thirty-six minutes. I mean they’re all, especially for not too experienced ears, very similar to each other. However, Hate Forests’ seventh album contains eight compositions with varying durations – the shortest one is three minutes and seventeen seconds, and the longest track is six minutes and twenty-eight seconds.
Anyway, who cares about the impression I mentioned before, and the fact guitar repeats a few riffs all the time, drumming is fast and even a little monotonous in the most? Isn’t it, as my experience indicates, even something desirable in such creativity? Besides, the only thing that really matters here is that we’re driven to the brink of madness by such sounds. I feel I’m getting closer and closer to the Devil with every single listening, I worship Him in the right way, and He appreciates it, preparing a special place in Hell for me! So, if you’re the same, or even worse, blasphemous bastard as me, then you don’t even need it, but must buy this album as soon as possible! You can make a choice between all possible physical formats. When it takes a CD, there’s available, let’s call it, normal and digipack and when we’re talking about 12”, there’s also two color versions – this one and digipack are limited edition, so be fast or be dead! Well, I’m sure there are such maniacs among the readers who’ll spend their money on all of them.
