Arguably one of death metal’s most often overlooked bands, Tampa’s Hate Eternal have still been at it for the best part of three decades. In that time, they have managed to release seven albums, count the likes of Hannes Grossman, Tim Yeung, Derek Roddy and of course the mainstay of Erik Rutan in their ranks at various points, and share stages with the likes of Nile, Vader and Fear Factory amongst many others. Mr Rutan himself is a much lauded produced and all-round utility man, having been drafted into twist the knobs for the likes of Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel who have both also used him for his guitar playing skills in the past (indeed, my understanding is that he is a permanent fixture still in CC). Averaging around one release every three years, Hate Eternal have consistently churned out albums up until 2018 when they appear to have become distracted from the project. It was hard when looking to showcase an album of theirs to find a “classic” release. Arguably this is just as true from the perspective of looking at their discography in isolation as it is from looking at them within a whole genre view. Hate Eternal might be work-horses but it is rare to find a record they have done that is reviewed all that highly, in the truly standout section of the ratings on MA.

It could be argued that Rutan’s best work was prior to Hate Eternal, with the time he spent in Ripping Corpse and the initial three-year stint from 93-96 in Morbid Angel perhaps being considered more noteworthy in comparison. That having been said, for me personally, Covenant is one of the weaker MA albums. On the flipside, the one and only release from Ripping Corpse is an absolute banger of a record. In selecting Hate Eternal’s third full length release, landing some eight years into their existence, as the feature release for The Horde this month, I feel I have selected perhaps a very representative Florida death metal-sounding record. I have too little experience of the entire discography to possibly place it in any ranking against the rest, yet I Monarch is clearly based on the type of ultra-fast death metal indicative of the likes of Deicide and Morbid Angel. Add to this some of the more technical tropes and brutal bludgeoning’s of Suffocation and Nile and you soon have record worth reckoning with on your turntable.

At the same time, I can pick up similar sounds from other artists who never quite manage to crack the higher echelons of death metal. The sameness that can haunt the likes of Krisiun and Vader does touch the content of some tracks on I Monarch. Equally though, the ripping intensity of the main riff of ‘The Victorious Reign’ is undeniably infectious. The drumming of Roddy on this record is exceptional I feel, and the instruments are all well represented in the mix and have a good sense of clarity from the production overall. Rutan’s vocals are suitably monstrous, and his songwriting is at times top-notch (‘Path to Eternal Gods’). Whilst I may not necessarily be a fan of his solo work, it does still bear recognition for being unique in its tame molestation of my ears as it plays. Ironically, the title track is perhaps my least favourite song on the album as it completely lacks cohesion and sounds like a b-side on an Immolation single.

Whilst I Monarch cannot justify a place in the higher end of the ratings spectrum; it is one of those records that feels as if I am short-changing it by awarding it in the middle range. It does however fall short on the truly standout moments and overall is not strong in the memorability stakes as a result. Whilst not overly technical, there are sections that feel lost on me and consistent application of my attention does prove difficult throughout the complete listening experience. In so many ways, I Monarch makes it clear why Hate Eternal never quite hear their name in the same conversations as some of the real heavyweights of death metal.

Much more gothic metal than the symphonic sound they’d become more familiar for, ‘Enter’, the 1997 debut album by Dutch band Within Temptation, is a far cry from the sound the band would be more widely recognised with upon later releases.

Not that it’s a terrible album, but if, like me, your introduction to the band was via later hits such as the epic ‘Ice Queen’ and the majestic ‘Mother Earth’ (yeah, that’s right, I said majestic!) then this record just doesn’t quite compare.

The music is alright, but overall the songs just all seem to plod along. Maybe it’s the production, or the fact there seems to be more emphasis on death metal growling. I don’t know, but this album just doesn’t really do much for me.

Songs like ‘Restless’ and ‘Enter’ have potential, but more often than not I just find myself losing interest halfway through. But whatever, there’s far worse debut albums out there, and the band would more than make up for it with their next release.

Finland’s Convocation are not exactly new to me, nor are they an artist that I have invested a lot of time with either. I recall trying them once and quickly finding myself distracted and off elsewhere on my to do list soon enough. Not that they necessarily did anything wrong, I usually find that aside from mood as an obvious influence over my enjoyment of a record, some music simply must be listened to from a critical perspective. No Dawn for Caliginous Night Is not background music and nor does it impose itself on the listener intentionally. Simply put, it is so well written, performed and arranged that to attempt to listen to it casually is very near to being an insult to Convocation.

I am a fan of both funeral and death/doom and to date, I do not recall that I have encountered an album that successfully combines the two sub-genres so eloquently. It is rare for the chug of the guitar that we get treated to around the six-minute and forty-second mark of album opener, ‘Graveless yet Dead’ to be present amongst such desolate sadness. Likewise, the poignancy of the melancholy of instrumental track ‘Between Aether and Land’ is uncharted territory across such a blended style of extreme metal.

 If I recall correctly, one of the guys involved in Convocation was (maybe still is) in Desolate Shrine, and I get snippets of their sound throughout this record. The definitively gloomy sound of Finnish funeral and death/doom permeates the record as you would expect. Finland has a proud heritage already in this field and No Dawn for Caliginous Night carries on that fine lineage. With such a well-produced album it is great to hear the rumble of the low end with just as much clarity as the slow-picked guitar notes, with even the harsh vocals receiving a great airing. Listen closely to ‘Lepers and Derelicts’ and appreciate the busy nature of the track as the guitars appear to chime a tune within the track. I have already lost track of how many times I have listened to this album now. Each time I do, I discover or notice something new. As if I needed any excuse to keep coming back, constant discovery is an added boon.

Steineiche is the 1998 debut album / demo (delete as necessary) by a young Wintherr (Tobias Möckl) and his fledgeling Paysage d'Hiver black metal project. In its most widely available version it consists of three lengthy tracks, each quite distinct, and has a runtime around an hour. The original, limited edition, CD-R version had a fourth track, Déjà Vu, which doesn't appear on subsequent versions and which I haven't heard.

Even at this early stage it was evident that Wintherr had an uncanny knack of wringing an enormous amount of atmosphere from the most basic of palettes. The length of the tracks inevitably leads to a degree of repetitiveness, but Wintherr's genius is in never allowing such to become monotonous or boring, but continuously evolving each track so that listener engagement is maintained, whilst not straying too far from the original premise and enveloping and immersing said listener in the atmospherics. The production values are exceedingly lo-fi as anyone familiar with the project would already guess, yet Wintherr works this in the music's favour, using sparse, lo-fi recording techniques to infuse his work with an inherent iciness that feels sharp and brittle like winter frost and is eminently suited to the atmosphere of this album in particular and the wider concept of "The Wanderer" that makes up the entire discography of the project, thus laying out his manifesto very early on.

As I mentioned at the outset, the three tracks are each very distinct, yet they complement each other inordinately well. The opener "Die Baumfrau" ("The Tree Woman"), begins with an ambient intro complete with that staple of Pd'H releases, samples of a winter wind blowing frostily from the speakers, before erupting in a shivering blast of black metal iciness that is probably nearest to what most would expect from the project, but which is no less effective for that, it essentially being the acorn from which that particular black metal oak germinated. The riffing and blasting is of a pummelling intensity and the high-pitched shrieks are searingly harsh and sound like someone taking a power sander to an orc's balls, but the track feels even more sinister when these give way to a deep, spoken-word section where the vocals hover around on the edge of audibility before the frantic shrieking reasserts control. Subtle little details like this, along with the insertion of a gothick-y guitar melody over the main riff in the middle section and another near the track's end that sounds like bluegrass banjo-picking, prevent the track from becoming stale whilst still maintaining the direction of travel, a skill with which Wintherr has proven to be admirably proficient over the years. By track's end, such is the impressiveness of his nascent songwriting ability, you don't even realise that twenty minutes have elapsed.

For the second epic, very different, track we get to hear from The Tree Woman's spouse "Der Baummann" (The Tree Man). This is a much more moody-sounding piece that has a doomier ethic with a guitar sounding at times very similar to Celtic Frost, or more accurately Triptykon. Overlaid with thin keys and a picked guitar melody and featuring guttural croaking vocals mixed quite low, this has a sinister, ominous edge to it, contrasting superbly with the savagery of the opener, as if the threat of "Der Baummann" is deeper and more profound than the mere physical violence of "Die Baumfrau". Ending with a tortured (possibly synthesised) violin scraping at your mind, the track seems to threaten the annihilation of soul as well as body.

The closer is a twenty-five minute ambient piece with a haunting, ritualistic atmosphere. Now I am not known for my patience with long ambient tracks. My dislike of "Rundgang um die transzendentale Säule der Singularität" on Burzum's "Filosofem" seemingly flying in the face of popular opinion, for example, but Wintherr here shows Varg how to construct a lengthy epic with quite simple building blocks that never threatens to become tedious. From ritualistic and almost martial-sounding beginnings it reaches for the stars and becomes more cosmic and occult. With barely audible spoken vocals that feel like the probings of a Cthulhian titan seeking to escape its cosmic prison, it hints at secrets of the universe that a mere man's mind could not possibly comprehend, nor soul withstand. Ending with a female operatic aria, "Der Baum" leaves a quite stunning impression.

I must confess that, for some inexplicable reason, I had never checked out this debut until now, but now I have I would probably list it as one of Paysage d'Hiver's most interesting releases. The songwriting is extraordinarily accomplished and as he was responsible for everything on the record, Wintherr's technical competence cannot be sniffed at either. Whilst I accept that some may struggle with the sparse production, I find that the lack of high production values removes a layer of artifice from between artist and listener and allows an unvarnished reopresentation of Wintherr's intent to be heard, to everyone's benefit.

This is one of my favourite albums, not just because it is a brilliant slab of atmospheric black metal, but also because it shows that black metal needn't necessarily be hateful and misanthropic all the time, but can actually be used to relate human stories and illuminate it's listeners about topics of which they know little or nothing. Austin Lunn is also an artist who flies in the face of genre stereotypes. This is a guy who actually cares about people - he used to be a social worker but quit, I believe, due to the frustration of working within an overly bureaucratic system. So when someone tells you all black metal bands are nazi satanists then point them in Panopticon's direction.

I was originally turned on to Panopticon via his 2014 album Roads to the North and was so impressed I dived right into his back catalogue. The preceding albums were not as impressive as Roads... that is until I got to Kentucky, which is the album where the Panopticon sound really began to gel. The introduction of bluegrass music into a black metal environment was a revelation to me. I was more than familiar with the inclusion of european-derived folk elements in black metal and even middle-eastern influences via bands like Melechesh, but this was a whole new take (to me anyway) and as such sounded fresh and exhilharating. I have always quite liked the sound of bluegrass, it has a kind of melancholy to it that is difficult to pinpoint, but that resonates with me somehow (although coming from England's northern midlands I have no endemic cultural attachment to the music) but it wasn't until I heard it welded to atmospheric black metal that it actually began to make sense to me and none more so than on Kentucky's telling of the struggles of early twentieth century American coal miners against their profit-driven bosses. I don't want to get into the politics of the record, but as I worked with many family members of miners who were part of the bitter early 1980's miner's strike here in the UK, let's just say that I have some sympathy for the album's protagonists and the history of labour struggles does hold some interest for me.

Of course what we came here for is the black metal and Kentucky contains three of my all-time favourite black metal tracks in Bodies Under the Falls, Black Soot and Red Blood and Killing the Giants As They Sleep, these tracks owing much to another of my GOAT albums, WitTR's Two Hunters, an album I've waxed lyrical about on more than one occasion! This blend of poetic black metal, folk protest songs and effortless storytelling makes for a unique listening experience that defies the norm in metal music and firmly plants Kentucky on my list of great black metal albums.