Hatriot – The Vale Of Shadows
Release Date: 22nd July 2022
Label: Massacre Records
Pre-Order
Genre: Thrash, Death Metal.
FFO: Onslaught, Emortus.
Review By: Liam True
Formed by current Exodus vocalist, and former vocalist of this band Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza, Hatriot are on their fourth album since their debut hit the shelves in 2013. And though Zetro himself left the band in 2015 due to commitment issues with Exodus, the legacy is being continued by His sons, Cody Souza on bass and vocals, Nick on drums, and with Kosta Varvatakis on lead guitar while Kevin Paterson takes rhythm guitar, the band are ferocious on The Vale Of Shadows. Not dropping their sound or energy for a single minute.
Album opener Horns & Halos hits you in the gut from the start with the precision machine gun drumming of Nick taking stage as Cody’s vocals screech as a war cry leading the charge into war. His vocals growling and wailing shows his diverse ability from the off. The Hate Inside is the exact same, starting at 100mph but slowing down just a touch for the verse’s and picking up again for the chorus.
Force Balance & Verminous And Vile sound like two different songs on two different albums. To start with. Then out of nowhere on V&V the total destruction from the band reigns as they smash your skull with their intense speed and technical prowess.
When you get to The Twenty Fifth Hour at the halfway mark however, you begin to realise the album does start to sound repetitive. I mean, yes, it is a thrash metal album, what do you expect? But there’s almost no difference in the sound or the guitar tones. Granted, Murderous Tranquillity is the slowest song on the album that does bring a soothing ambiance to it and gives you a minute to catch your breath, but that’s really it. It’s a fast-paced trail through the band’s minds, but it’s like they took the same guitar riffs and only added or took away a few notes to the same speed, which is a bit of a let-down really because it starts off so strong. However, Hymn For The Wicked does contradict my statement, as that’s the main song that stands out to me in terms of difference in riffs.
If you’re a big fan of breakneck thrash metal and don’t mind some repetitiveness then it’ll be right up your alley, but not mine, unfortunately.
(3 / 5)
