HATESPHERE – Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Black

In the spirit of the season, Hatesphere offers their rabid fans a special release, laboriously titled Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Black. The CD has one new song, four live tracks and two cool covers — Ozzy’s “Bark at the Moon” and Anthrax’s “Caught in a Mosh.”

Hatesphere is thrash influenced death metal. Knowing this, you won’t be surprised by the vocals. Bands of this nature (like Hatebreed), are hard to separate vocally from their ilk. Lead barker Jacob Bredhal does mix in a couple screams here and there, especially at the beginning of the Ozzy cover, but for the most part, it’s just white noise.

The first track, “Release the Pain,” sounds somewhat like Reign in Blood era Slayer. Instead of just going as fast as they can, they do slow the song down in places, and the piercing guitar accentuates the breaks. Vocally, well, you won’t know what is being said, but whatever it is, he really means it. Including lyrics in this release wouldn’t be a bad idea. Compared to their live tracks on this release, you can tell their new music is going to be more varied and just better than their older tunes.

“Bark at the Moon” starts with a scream that again, harkens back to Slayer. It almost mimics Araya’s “Angel of Death” scream perfectly, just not as long. If you didn’t know this was “Bark at the Moon,” you’d have a hard time deciphering what the hell is going on, until it slows down and you hear the lyrics, “Bark at the moon.” If you read the Metal Express message boards, seems like a lot of people think covers suck. They’d be right in this case, but wrong as hell on the next song.

The cover of “Caught in a Mosh” is stellar. Paying homage to your roots is never a bad thing, and fans of Hatesphere should covet Belladonna-era Anthrax anyway. If they don’t, well, this will force them to check it out. In fact, looking back, Belladonna-era Anthrax stands the test of time AT LEAST as well as Metallica’s ‘80s/early ‘90s music does — maybe even better. Musically, this song is perfect. They increase on the brutality of the original without changing it and making it unrecognizable. Even the vocals shine on this one, in a feral way. Every band should be covering Anthrax songs is the only thing to be discerned from this track …

The next four tracks are live, taken from their tour with The Haunted and Mastodon. You’ll get “Lowlife Vendetta,” “Bloodsoil,” “Plague,” and the warm fuzzy “Hate.” These songs sort of bleed into each other and are hard to tell apart, but it’s obvious that live, these guys tear it up.

Fans of Hatesphere need to get their hands on this release. It’s worth the coin. If you like your music fast and your vocals harsh, then Hatesphere does it as well as any one else.