8th August 2025

Review: “Empowered By Hatred” by Baelfyr

“We wanted to create something that retained the rawness and nastiness of the genre but to pull back on some of the aspects present in modern metal. So you won’t find any shredding solos or 300bpm double kicks. Instead, we’ve made an effort to concentrate on memorable riffs and a meaty, and some might say old school, sound” ~ Baelfyr

Formed in 2023 by the writing partnership of former Suffering and Rotting Repugnancy guitarist Harry Mills and Enthrallment Eternal vocalist Allan Thomson with a nightmarish vision for a project in Extreme Metal, Baelfyr became reality with the addition of second guitarist Tom Mawbey, bassist Jake Halls and drummer Lorraine Staves. The summer of 2024 saw them announce themselves to an unsuspecting world with singles “Disciples” and “Time, the Great Betrayer” that were also recorded, mixed, mastered and produced by Neil Hudson (Krysthla, Bone Altar, Phobetor) at Grindfarm Studios. Dynamic and unflinching, those songs paved the way and now with new bassist Zak Banson-Noond in the fold, they explore themes of mental health, abuse, and humanity’s treatment of the world with debut album “Empowered By Hatred“.

A delicate dance macabre, sombre and sobering introduces “At The Mercy Of A Vain God” as Baelfyr build the mountain with melancholic riffage and brooding atmospheres. When it rises from the black depths, Thomson’s vicious tirade is a skull splitting one that is as harsh as they come, vile and repugnant as if mistreated by this realm of existence and wishing to pour scorn upon it. His sonic accompaniment is very much of the old school variety, a tornado of souls screaming in Blackened Death Metal that is as timeless those words suggest. A mid tempo chugger with a couple of slick tempo changes “Innocence Defiled” carries the weight of a hundred thousand corpses on its back and still makes high ground before nightfall. It does so with new found power that steams from a deep rooted confidence in the vision for how they wish Baelfyr to sound and that is something that shines like the sun. There will be those who compare Thomson’s savage vocals to those of Dani Filth and while he is of the same register, combining death growls with shriller pitching, they are very different beasts. Increasing the intensity with a bone rattling performance from Staves behind the kit, “Consequence Of Endless Expansion” is a tale of a dark new dawn for humanity and the coming of the apocalypse. Warning from a soothsayer that rings like a shotgun blast, it resonates while demonstrating that it is possible to create something politically charged and socially aware within the genre of Extreme Metal.

Splitting the album clean in half like a hatchet to the skull “Under a Starless Sky” offers blood and thunder accompanied by sinister and menacing riffage that has glorious Black Metal leads. Its the kind of tune that you can hum despite the dark malevolence of the lyrical narrative and what impresses the most is that the band don’t feel the bloodlust to annihilate. Rather that going out all guns blazing with virtuoso solos, orchestrated backing tracks and jackhammer footwork they instead lurk in the shadows creating dark atmospheres and strike when the iron is hot. That separates them from the wolf pack and when “Rust And Dust” comes out swinging, its a punishment beating with Kubrick inspired eerie moments. A stompy passage in the second half of this one decimates the weak and thins the herd with the power of its slow crush, the inevitable violent demise concluding with a gang chant “work, buy, consume, die!“.

Blackened riffage spills from the smouldering fretboards as “Evil Incarnate” plays out, a couple of hellish screams from Thomson adding to a narrative about trying and failing to escape from the darkness. Reaching a new found level of depravity “Empowered By Hatred” has some of the nastiest shrill vocal parts on this monster of a record and will leave those faint of heart or weak of mind gripping their pillows tightly. The absence of any form of embellishment from orchestration or keys is surprisingly refreshing, especially given that there are more than a few opportunities to do so here. If everyone is doing it, does it follow that it loses some of its appeal? The stripped back approach Baelfyr have chosen for this record proves that it remains just as powerful today as it did when if first came to be [8/10]

Track Listing