UMUR
"The Forthcoming Fall" is the third demo recording by Swedish thrash metal act Hatred. The demo was recorded and released in 1990. It´s the successor the January 1989 "Welcome to Reality" demo. Hatred formed in 1985, released three demos and then disbanded.
Although the quality of the "Welcome to Reality" demo could have earned Hatred a recording contract, it didn´t happen and they therefore recorded this demo and soon after disbanded with only demo material as their collective output. "The Forthcoming Fall" is stylistically a slightly more sophisticated version of "Welcome to Reality". The playing is even tighter, the sound prodcution is clearer, more detailed, but still powerful and raw, and the songwriting is still relatively generic for the genre. It´s still artists like Slayer, Dark Angel, and Possessed, which are the influences, and although this might not be particularly original, it´s both well performed and well produced.
Upon conclusion Hatred certainly deserved a better fate (so did other mid- to late 80s Swedish thrash metal artists like Obscurity and Mefisto), but not many labels looked to Sweden to find new and upcoming thrash metal artists during the late 80s. The legacy that Hatred (and Obscurity and Mefisto) leave is not so much their music (which is of a good quality but seldom above standard quality for the genre), but more the influence they had on the burgeoning Swedish death metal scene with the more extreme approach to playing thrash metal that they brought to a generally more melodic and heavy metal/speed metal oriented local scene. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.