ALBUM REVIEW: Altalith – Black Hate
In a country that is already well known for producing some of the most unique and eclectic sounding back metal on the planet, Mexico’s BLACK HATE are perhaps one of the countries more impressive and enduring underground acts. Forming as a solo project back in 2006, the band have since morphed into arguably one of the more memorable and imaginative bands in the region, with their previous five records standing as a testament to the band seemingly bottomless well of talent. Their latest, sixth record, Altalith, is another great piece of music, pushing their music further out into more progressive territories and resulting in one of their best outings to date.
The Gathering is a short, but very effective, start to the album, which brings together powerful percussion and sonorous keyboards, making for a great, foreboding start to the record. The album proper starts with Hur/nin\ki-sag, an excellent track with slick guitar sound and disjointed hooks, start the album proper off with a a sharp, but demented, offering that more than sets the tone for the album. It has such a crisp and precise sound, jumping between solid rhythms and more progressive flourishes, with the feral approach of the vocals adding a dark, caustic edge to the proceedings, making for a catchy, punchy piece of music. Following this, there’s another brief, ambient interlude in the form of Portal.
This is followed by Ir./Kalla, a great offering that carries forward the jarring quality that defined Hur/nin\ki-sag, with imaginative, focused guitar work and solid, tight drumming providing an excellent backdrop to the brilliant vocals, which encompass a much wider range, from sonorous clean passages to much weightier, bellicose howls. It’s a massive, monolithic piece of music that makes full use of it’s longer running time to inject as many elements into the music as possible, making for a much more immersive, and impressive, sound from start to finish.
Ascension, much like The Gathering and Portal, acts as a fleeting break from the darker, metal elements, combining a thunderous drum sound with light and sublime synth passages, setting the listener up for Nin\ki/en-mah extremely well. This marks the start of a distinct shift in the sound and tone of the album, with a much more restrained sound, with noticeably subdued percussion and a measured pace allowing the vocals to excel, and essentially carry the track, at various points. The interchange between both monstrous gutturals and much lighter, clean vocals, lend this song a much more immersive and dramatic sound, making for an excellent, and well thought out, change of pace.
Eradication – Purification provides one last, grandiose instrumental break, bringing together a primordial sound with a much more immersive, percussive side, providing the perfect segue to the albums eighth and final track, Altalith-jame/diu\; builds on the incredibly solid foundations of Nin\ki/en-mah, proving to be the absolute apex of the bands more avant-garde leanings on this record. A more adventurous gives this song a great, progressive edge, interspersed with some muscular, focused blackened death metal flourishes. The harsher vocals are almost nonexistent, with sonorous, clean vocal deliveries adding to this songs great, atmospheric feel, with the much ebbing and flowing between its myriad components, closing the album on one of its more eclectic and engrossing tracks.
This album is, amongst other things, a continuation of the bands forays into more progressive musical territories, retaining some of the elements that began to creep into the bands sound on Los tres mundos and Through The Darkness, notably a much more diverse guitar playing style and incredibly varied vocals, which give this album a powerful and fresh approach that sets it apart from the vast majority of black metal acts out there. Moreover, separating each of these songs with a short, instrumental piece also did a great job of breaking up the album, and allowing for a more immersive sound for the listener, making each song feel like a stand out offering in its own right. BLACK HATE are clearly a band that are cresting their creative zenith, and if this album is anything to go by, they aren’t likely to run out of ideas anytime soon.
Rating: 9/10
Altalith is set for release on July 17th via Dusktone.
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