1. The Beginning And The End (Instrumental)

2. Deathrip

3. Vermin

4. Downward To Nothing

5. Only The Strongest…

6. What I See I Despise

7. Last Cut, Last Head

8. Warhead

9. Blankeyed

10.500 Dead People

Bredhal (Vocals)

Peter Lyse Hansen (Guitar)

Henrik Jacobsen (Guitar)

Mikael Ehlert (Bass)

Ander Gyldenøhr (Drums)

recorded and mixed by  by Tommy Hansen.                                                

review by Boris "Azrael" Witta ___               

Death Metal from Scandinavia. But not from Sweden, Gothenburg, no, from a little country called Denmark. I have to say that I never heard anything of Hatesphere before, but it's good that I discovered them. "Ballet Of The Brute" (great name by the way) is already the third album of the band, which used to be named as "Necrosis", before they released their first album. Hatesphere don't play Melodic Death nor the typical old-school Swedish Death Metal, no, the Danish quintet performs very groovy Death Metal with lots of Thrash - elements, and there are also some modern influences in their sound, but not too much (and that's good!). In general, every song goes fast forward and is straight ahead, there's little midtempo and there are also as good as no melodies, just hard, heavy riffing. This might sound like "Ballet Of The Brute" gets boring after some songs, but that's completely wrong, for me, the album is too short with about 36 minutes. The whole production is more than good, perfect for this style of Metal, recorded in the Tommy Hanson - studio. An interesting thing with the songs is also, that they are - as I said before - most of the time fast, but Hatesphere don't use any blastbeats. Let's say now something about each song. Here we go:

The Beginning And The End

"The Beginning And The End" is an instrumental, which leads the listener to the coming things. There's a great rhythm at the beginning, lots of uptempo-riffs, which sound a bit like Slayer, and suddenly an oblique melody appears.

There is no pause between the instrumental and the opener. 

Deathrip

With a guitar intro, tension arises, a short drum-break and then attack! Aggressive vocals, which are not to deep and fit perfect to "Deathrip", which is fast and intense. During the chorus, Bredhal shows some great screams. 

Vermin

"Vermin" begins slowly and Bolt Thrower-like, a rolling and impressive soundwall, then the song turns into uptempo, and very good to see or better to hear is the very good drumsound of "Ballet Of The Brute". The vocals during the refrain are kind of noisy-clean and "Vermin" is relative modern. Also some deep growling and distorted vocals appear in the song. "Vermin" is a banger-song, like most of the songs on the album, and at the end, there are feeping guitars.

Downward To Nothing

This is not the best song, because it doesn't sound very original, and sometimes it reminds a bit to Metalcore. "Downward To Nothing" is okay, but not more. 

Only The Strongest…

Now, that's a great midtempo - crusher, with thrashy riffing guitars, hoarse vocals, which are deeper than in the songs before, and it's clear that "Only The Strongest" is the slowest song on "Ballet Of The Brute". In the middle, the fantastic feeping guitars appear again, in teamwork with deep vocals, and at the end of the song, there's another great bang-part.

What I See I Despise

Very very fast, but of course no blastbeats!! The tempo is aggressive fast and fitting to this, the vocals are high screaming and hateful. The drums are very dynamic, and when you hear the chorus, you know there's just one solution: Bang and jump! "What I See I Despite" reminds a bit to The Crown. Also some words about the guitars: Most of all the lead guitars are very powerful and heavy. Very good one!

Last Cut, Last Head

Starts in mitdempo with pounding lead guitars, and there's a melody, which doesn't let you go anymore. Definitely one of the best songs of the album. Melodic shouting during the refrain, sounding desperate, and disjointed riffing, which is pure Death Metal, during the verses.

Warhead

"Warhead" has fantastic staccato - riffing, the song is very brutal, intensive and is destroying everything on his way. "Warhead" runs forward and is once again uptempo. Interesting is the chorus, which is a bit Hardcore-like, and I also have to say that "Warhead" has kind of a modern touch. 

Blankeyed

"Blankeyed" has a Thrash Metal-start, and then it's again fast, turning into Midtempo and changing again. The best thing of this song is the first (and last) melodic guitar-solo at the beginning, and spoken vocals, sometimes deep growling, give "Blankeyed" a special touch. This is the shortest song, it's less than three minutes long. 

500 Dead People          

The final song starts with a cracking intro and again distorted vocals ("... I will kill you!"),"500 Dead People" is once more fast forward and a typical Hatesphere-song and of course a good end of a very good album. "500 Dead People" contains one of the best riffs to bang on "Ballet Of The Brute", and finally, at the end, it gets a bit slower. A very long song with more than five minutes.

So, I can say that "Ballet Of The Brute" is a very good album, full of great Death Metal with tons of Thrash Metal-influences, and, once more, without blastbeats. One real slow song wouldn't have been bad, and sometimes, as listener you get the feeling, that you already heard this part in the song before, but in general, "Ballet For The Brute" makes a lot of fun. Well done, gentlemen!

Rating: 8/10  

© GryphonMetal.ch   2001-2009         Niederrohrdorf - Switzerland               webimpressum