Not content with simply falling away from the herd but instead seeking a howling and gnashing rebellion against it’s existence, this second full-length album from Athens, Greece-based black/death metal duo Hate Manifesto forges a vengeful coalition of faith’s complete negation as they amplify all rhetoric, charging the atrocity tale to its most horrifying extreme. ‘Αποστάτης’ manages to be an unrelenting tunnel of concrete-slabbed brutality, a chaotic display of plague-ridden gore, and a herald to species level extermination as it roars past at inhuman speed, pulverizing without a second thought. As a follow-up it trades the sensations of variety and austerity for terror-inducing opposition, an act of overwhelming aggression.

Getting the history of this band right is bound to be a bit imprecise in terms of there having been predecessor band that was different in style as well as there being a sizable gap (~a decade) in between the formation of Hate Manifesto proper and their first releases. Carpathian Lords was one of the first black metal projects bandleader and main songwriter W.S.P. (Cult of Eibon, Black Blood Invocation) joined in the late 90’s where his work as a drummer featured on their second tape ‘Through Those Dark and Misty Aeons‘ circa 1999, a demo that’d primarily taken influence from classic Greek and Scandinavian black metal as their songcraft picked up steam. At some point that band ended and on the same breath the artist declared Hate Manifesto was born around 2003. Around that time W.S.P. worked with several death metal bands, most notably featuring as the vocalist on one of Inveracity‘s records. What happened between 2006-2013? “Life, and living it.” is always the most likely answer but around 2013 the band would pick up activity with a well known drummer in the current Greek metal landscape joining W.S.P. and they’d produce a split 7″ with an old compatriot’s project, Wargrinder, in 2015. This was the unveiling of a different sound that was much more in line with black/death metal of a war-metallic angle that wasn’t leaning into the bestial side of things.

As Hate Manifesto made their arrival official with a debut full-length (‘To Those Who Glorified Death‘, 2017) there were a couple of important traits one must recognize to truly understand where the band were coming from beyond labelling it militant black/death metal. First the feature of Warhead on drums was not for nothing as his work had been a big part of what’d stood out about Naer Mataron during the 2000’s and not to mention his stint in Perdition Temple for their debut LP, this was a big signal as to what caliber of work they’d managed as well as the intensity demanded of the drummer. Second, I guess it could go without saying that the influence from ‘Panzer Division Marduk‘ was all over that debut alongside deeper death metal growls and perhaps more variety than one would expect if they’d not gotten past the first couple of songs. Taking this into account from the listeners perspective it’d been the sort of record a black and death metal fan who was conscious in the first post-millennium decade would understand for its focus on the riff and a brutal pace. A follow-up mLP (‘Herald of Triumph‘, 2019) a few years later would serve as a vital reminder of those sessions, reinforcing the style of the debut without necessarily pointing toward the focus of this second LP.

The stylistic focus of the project hasn’t been drastically mutilated in the years between, Hate Manifesto is still a brutally struck war metallic black/death metal machine but we do find a different production value in hand lending a more chaotic yet entrenched sound overall with deeper-set guitar layers alongside a slightly more mechanical treatment of the throne by way of current Marduk drummer Simon Schilling. The precision and speed available to this performer is far above average and suits the style of this band in an exacting sort of way, to the point of ‘Αποστάτης’ landing entirely relentless as a front-to-back firestorm compared to their shorter but slightly more spacious debut. There are pros and cons to this approach, most of them considering minutiae of differences between two very similar records but I’d generally enjoyed this record for the same reasons I’d liked their debut. The depth of my notes could be reduced to: Louder, more chaotic, voluminously rendered + a few Slayer-esque leads add demented character around the edges.

Stepping within the cyclone and seeking a natural point of focus I’d quickly gravitated towards the thread of the rhythm guitars available to ‘Αποστάτης’ with “Poison Infliction” catching the ear first, speaking the language that is more-or-less the signature of the band at this point. The main riffs develop in a style which is now even more directly struck from the anvil of ‘Panzer Division Marduk‘ in terms of speed and hanging on each word within a tentative thread, think of ‘Blizzard Beasts‘ and the naturally extended thrashing phrases of those riffs but set at a much faster droning tempo. The first four or so songs proper generally carve their path with this approach eventually ramping up to what I’d consider a peak with “Sworn to Hatred” where the more percussive death metal riffs begin to interrupt more often and create a scattershot feeling which I tend to prefer in this style. A lot of that involves tremolo picked scrambling in situ but as we hit upon ~3:09 minutes in the piece those Zyklon-esque paced out riffs pull the song together in mind, especially on repeat listen where those transitions read subtle but shape the piece in a somewhat profound way. The overall impression I’d gotten was that Side A followed a descent into brutality and Side B became a firestorm to look forward to when returning to the album.

“Decimation Order” is probably the most coherent and volatile hit of that brutal side of the band overall but I’d found myself gravitating toward “Deconstructing the Assemblage of Deception” as the standout aggressor on the second half of ‘Αποστάτης’ where you can practically hear the screams of the crowd while the tank rolls over ’em. Hate Manifesto create their most impressive wind tunnel of riffs at this point but this will be a very slight bit of nuance for folks uninterested in the spectacular bluster of black/death metal which finds precision well above that of bestial death and/or “war metal” in the typical sense, the clarity of this recording shows little to no reliance on simple punkish structures for havoc and in this sense this song just sounds especially mean, malevolent and has riffs rather than scratched-at movement backing that feeling up.

From my point of view that is the appeal of this record in a nutshell, a tunneled-forth volley of fire with creates a focal point for all of the artists aggression for about forty minutes. What this style of black/death metal gains here is coherence in terms of a precise, readable render and sharpened construction without escaping the chaotic, unfocused speech that it serves. In that sense the real treat of the full listen comes as a showcase of chest-beating brutality and exploration of high speed riffcraft of a certain tradition threaded into something slightly more sophisticated than a bludgeon to the skull. The potency is there and the performances surely are in all aspects though I’d been left feeling like it could be further condensed for impact. A high recommendation.

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