Italian death metal masters HATEFUL have created a mind-bending album of epic proportions. They’ve constructed dizzying structures by piling riffs and drum patterns atop one another with delirious fervour and surgical precision. It includes elements of the early technical death metal bands like ATHEIST, GORGUTS, DISINCARNATE and DEATH, powerful brutal coagulants such as SUFFOCATION and DEEDS OF FLESH, and even the kinetic, ever-changing properties of bands like SPAWN OF POSSESSION and NECROPHAGIST. There’s just so much to unravel as a listener and it’s a rare treat, for HATEFUL take their time fleshing out the parts and seeing to their fulfillment, rather than rushing blindly through it all without making any rhythmic sense or retaining a semblance of coherence. This is a thinking man’s death metal where the core sound isn’t mutated abnormally nor is the brutality mitigated and yet it incorporates intricate, highly challenging structures, IMMOLATION-esque complexity and dissonance, and exhibits maddening dexterity and endless album replay value. Seven years in the making, Hateful’s hugely awaited album complements contemporary death metal label mates in DEPRAVITY, ATRÆ BILIS, SEPULCHRAL CURSE and CUTTERRED FLESH and even technical death metal champions CHAOS MOTION, CEREBRUM, COEXISTENCE and THE SCALAR PROCESS.