Review: “All That Was Promised” by Hath

After their well received 2019 debut “Of Rot And Ruin“, New Jersey Blackened Death Metal juggernaut Hath returned to the tried and tested their sophomore full-length album with drummer AJ Viana engineering and mixing with additional editing from Tiago “Canadas” Carvalho before mastering by Alan Douches (The Black Dahlia Murder, Hatebreed, All That Remains) at West West Side Mastering. Add to that artwork from Adam Burke for Nightjar Illustration also once again gracing the and album cover from the outfit seeking to build on the foundation of gold and bones laid down by their previous works and you have a potentially hot prospect in order, the band recording for the first time as a quartet with Frank Albanese (Guitars, Vocals), Peter Brown (Guitars) and Greg Nottis (Bass, Vocals) joining Viana in the studio…

…Hath formed somewhere around 2014 from the ashes of a largely instrumental Death Metal band called Ophidius and have risen like a phoenix ever since, growing from 2015 EP “Hive” through the aforementioned debut full length “Of Rot And Ruin” to “All That Was Promised” with musicianship as both individuals and a band clearly improving from an initially very high water mark with each subsequent release. You only need to hear the vibrant extended solo of “Kenosis” or the bruising double kick jackhammer footwork of “Lithopaedic” from the Progressive Death Metal outfit as they are today to hear that they have become a bigger beast than they were before and are now very much greater than the sum of their individual parts, painting with vivid lyrical imagery and blistering musicianship in the blood of those they have slain to reach this point. “Lithopaedic” actually sounds like the kind of cut that critically acclaimed Deathcore transcending Fit For An Autopsy want to create, it’s that good, while the fact that they’re cut from the same New Jersey cloth speaks volumes. “Iosis” has riffs that sound like they’re from the playbook of Between The Buried and Me but with a sharper edge as Hath take us down a darker and more punishing path than they have previously but perhaps the key as that these cuts are also more direct and cohesive, each one sounding like the conjoined twin of its predecessor because by the time you reach mid album cut “Decollation” your bones should we well and truly rattled.

An undertone of melancholia alongside the more Progressive Death Metal riffs and even an almost ambient part that sounds like it belongs to “Dark Side Of The Moon” by Pink Floyd with a jazzy bassline adds a sense of density and texture to the introspective narrative of feelings around broken promises before the final bloodcurdling roar. Despite that darkness there is a sense of majesty within the confines of the album, the rolling waves of gargantuan black riffs of “Death Complex” glistening in the light of the leads before the bowel clenching death growl and another scorching solo confirms a stand out among stand outs, shattering the scales once and for all. There can be no doubt that Brown is out to impress as he joined after the writing phase of the last album and that he does, adding a plethora of nuance to be discovered over multiple listens to a record imaginatively created while remaining ferocious despite the Progressive leanings which can sometimes take the edge off. Fortunately the band have drummer AJ Viana to lean on when it comes to mixing and much like Bodysnatcher drummer Chris Whited, he has made a name for himself in that arena as well as behind the kit, most notably as the man behind the boards on “Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction” by Cognitive. There is no soft ending either with “Name Them Yet Build No Monument” matching not only the rest of the album stride for stride but also bringing new life in the form of an endless groove through the mid section that adds to a gradual build to the final crescendo. Seek here and dark treasures you shall find beneath the oceans depths [8.5/10]

Track listing

“All That Was Promised” by Hath is out 4th March 2022 via Willowtip Records with pre-orders available over at bandcamp