23rd May 2022

Review: “From Flesh to Soil” by The Hate Project

Announcing themselves to the World in 2019 with heavy hitting single “Delusion”, Swedish Deathcore crew The Hate Project showcased their vision for their sound from that moment onwards with brutal vocals, dark themes and an undercurrent of DJent fueled Groove creating the foundations. The single would later take pride of place on the bands February 2021 released debut album, one comprising eight short sharp shocks over just short of twenty five minutes. The singles have since rained down like fire from the sky using what is known as the waterfall approach of building momentum as August, December and February each saw a new cut surface. Those cuts, re-amped, mixed and mastered by Simone Pietroforte (Distant, ROT, Gassed Up) at Divergent Studios now appear with a couple more on new EP “From Flesh To Soil“…

Causing harm or destruction often by supernatural means is the very definition of introduction puzzle piece “Malefic“, a haunting note that warns something wicked this way comes before conjoining itself like a parasite to the EP title track in the form of buried synths that rise through stuccato riff breaks in the finest possible way. Those riffs are of the DJent fueled, bounce heavy variety and coupled with those moments of horror atmosphere simply make you want to charge into the pit and shove your friends. The high energy incendiary madness continues into “Buried Alive” which reaches into the void to Slam territory and comes back kicking and screaming with Technical Deathcore riffs, downtempo drops and the kind of throat shredding vocals that make you wonder if there are genuine lyrics or the vocalist has become a human instrument and implement of destruction. Yet like during the finest of horror movies, you grip your pillow so tightly your knuckles turn white and yet you can’t bare to look away incase you miss a vital plot point.

That sense of horror is fueled by the tormented lyrics of a broken soul venting his spleen in an attempt to free himself of thoughts of madness, depression and anxiety against a hellscape of anvil heavy music that only gets heavier as the EP plays through with building momentum for a grand finale. “Despised” has just a four second introduction before the demonic vocals surface from the black depths. Spine juddering guitars echo the restless and relentless feelings of mental decay and things down from blast beats to downtempo groove in slick transition. The moment the whole EP has built up to is the brutal “Suicide Letter“, another turbulently violent cut that shatters every single pane of glass within thirty feet of anywhere it is played, the very real embodiment of the phrase disrespect your surroundings. It it were longer it might be called monolithic because the bands style means they don’t need to get technical, nuanced or otherwise and instead are able to deliver slab after concrete slab of heavy hitters that never get tired due to their short duration. While the title doesn’t give away the full story, the depiction of the breakdown of sanity over these tracks comes off like a very well work concept that must be applauded and the narrative is as raw and personal as they come [8/10]

Track Listing