The Block
Summoning majestic war
Most albums cease to impress me after a couple of listens. Some still amaze me, but I can never find new things that I like about albums after enough listens. But, The Project Hate MCMXCIX’s newest album, Bleeding The New Apocalypse (Cum Victriciis In Manibus Armis), still has new sounds/things that still impress me, and I keep finding new things that I like about this album. Even up until this listen right now, I find it amazing that this band can switch from a keyboard ballad type sense to death metal, all in one minute, like on “Bring Forth Purgatory”.
“Bring Forth Purgatory” is perhaps the best example of great musical talent on this album. As I said before, the opening keyboard lines are quite spectacular and flow right into the death metal section. The great part about this section, though, is that the keyboards crescendo to what seems like the climax, but then drop back down. I still can never be ready for when the death metal part comes in, making this song so lively and unpredictable. The guitar work on this album is also pretty good, too. Like most death metal albums, Bleeding The New Apocalypse (Cum Victriciis In Manibus Armis) is very guitar and drum driven, and both are played very well by Lord K. Philipson and Tobben Gustafsson, respectively. The most unpredictable part of this album, of course, was a women vocalist.
I never thought that a women vocalist would sound good in heavy metal, let alone death metal. But, Ruby Roque proved me wrong. Her voice blends very well with the musicians, even though they are playing much heavier and darker riffs compared to her singing. And yes, it is actually singing, not growling; they have someone else to dot the growling. Though much deeper, Jörgen Sandström’s growling goes very well, hand in hand with Ruby Roque’s singing. This gives, Bleeding The New Apocalypse (Cum Victriciis In Manibus Armis) a unique feel to it that is hard to find anywhere else in the death metal scene.
The production by Unisound and Dan Swanö is pretty good and I really enjoy it. I don’t know if they intentionally wanted the production to be a bit raw, but I did notice some small rubbing sounds throughout the album.
But other than that, this is a very solid album. I have to say, my introduction to The Hate Project MCMXCIX has been a great one! For fans of technical of just plain old death metal, this is a must have. For their really good release The Hate Project MCMXCIX gets 4 stars, and an album that might stay in my top ten of 2011.