Hath - All That Was Promised (2022)^{Release ID: 35044}

Fulfilled Obligations

Hath’s 2019 debut album Of Rot and Ruin was a crisp and refreshing breath of fresh air from the abundance of more traditional Death Metal releases, albeit short lived since I found it lacked consistency and staying power across a few more scattered listens. Their potent chug riffing was the obvious highlight that kept me coming back for more, but the melodic leads tended to overstay their welcome as they clashed with Hath’s more riff focused songwriting. The debut showed some serious promise though, and All That Was Promised is able to keep said promise with a more balanced and deep experience that is much more than some nasty chug riffs.

Thankfully Hath didn’t completely abandon what made them stand out in Of Rot and Ruin, with tracks like “Lithopaedic” keeping that satisfying Death Metal riffing intact while continuing to push the creativity of the rhythms by utilizing a swing feel during the two choruses. However, All That Was Promised embraces the more chaotic and progressive side of Death Metal with its winding song structures, fantastic album flow, and more melodically technical riffing to create a more well-rounded album. The mixing and tone choices have improved significantly and are better balanced in general, with the solos and guitar leads fitting into the overall atmosphere and songwriting in more cohesive and satisfying ways. There are some truly fantastic transitions too, examples being between “Kenosis” into “Lithopaedic” or “Casting of the Self” into “All That Was Promised”. These small additions help to establish a thicker atmosphere that feels more apocalyptic and hopeless than Of Rot and Ruin, even through the softer, more stripped-down sections of “Decollation” or “Iosis”.

Hath try to foster this atmosphere as much as they can through tumultuous riffing and drumming on the tracks like “Decollation” or “Death Complex”, although these sections are present on a pretty consistent basis throughout the album. While I’m a fan of the Ulcerate style of dense and pounding but still complex songwriting, these sections are easily the weakest part of the album, at least instrumentally. They tend to grind the excitement and flow of the album to a halt until Hath decide to transition away from them in admittedly well-written fashion. It doesn’t help that, personally, I got a bit tired of the riffing style by the end of “Death Complex”, making the final two songs a bit of a slog to get through each time despite “Name Them Yet Build No Monument” being a great closer. The vocals and transitions really save these sections though, since the chaos is accompanied by one of my preferred styles of harsh vocals; forceful, full of variety and character, and good middle-ground annunciation. There are some clean vocals here and there on a few tracks, but they’re mostly supported by harshes so they tend to just add another layer of variety rather than sticking out like a sore thumb, although they still kind of do on “Casting of the Self”.

I’m a big fan of how Hath have progressed on All That Was Promised though, as they took their Death Metal riff knowledge and added a cohesive assortment of progressive styles around it to create a nicely wrapped package. While it may not have as much rhythmic punch as their debut, I can’t help but see this as a win for them since the album so cleanly twists and turns around variation after variation of each riff on each track. As someone who likes their Death Metal more on the progressive or technical side rather than the gruesome side, All That Was Promised ticks a lot of nice boxes but doesn’t necessarily transcend any of them, despite me really enjoying the balance between more groove-centric and chaotic riffs.