Kev Rowland
Handful Of Hate first came together in 1993 when Nicola (vocals/guitar) became interested in the more extreme forms of Black-Metal. After some line-up problems and the tragic death of their bass player Ugo P. in 1994, they finally the demo ‘Goetia Summa’ in 1995 and then hit the road. This is their sixth album, and if the rest of them are like this then I am somewhat surprised that I haven’t come across them before. The label describes them as “the most blasphemous Angelcorpse meets the coldness of Marduk”, but to my ears it is easier than that as what we have here is Black Metal and Death Metal crashing headlong into each other, often during the same song.
Yes, it is brutally heavy, but there are also times when it is incredibly atmospheric as well. One of the strange things about playing this is as when I started listening to it I felt that the production had robbed the band of some of their presence but the longer it played, the better it sounded. Aeternus must get a special mention, as here is a guy who belongs in a grindcore outfit, with some incredibly intense and fast drumming, blast beats all over the place, and it certainly gives the band some additional punch. Well worth investigating.