Hatesphere - To The Nines (CD)

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After HATESPHERE's amazing last album Serpent Eyes And Killer Smiles, the band, or to be more precise the man behind this band, decided to make a whole new beginning by changing almost everything. The current HATESPHERE is a brand new band with only one thing being the same as before, Mr. Peter Lyse Hansen. Is the flame still burning? Well, that's something we'll have to find out…

After the band's last album through SPV/Steamhammer, Hansen decided it was time for a change and what we have here is a brand new line up with only him remaining in HATESPHERE. There was also a label change, since the Danish metallers inked a new deal with the Austrian label Napalm Records. Recorded over a nine-day period, To The Nines is the band's sixth full-length release.

I had some doubts about the quality of this album, for obvious reasons. It seems I wasn't wrong, since the renovated HATESPHERE didn't meet my expectations. To The Nines contains some distinctive HATESPHERE tunes, but overall as an album it has been driven away from the distinctive modern Danish Thrash/Death sound they themselves have established. Their PANTERA influences are more obvious now, but not in a way that the band left the aggressive melody fields in favor of groove. The fact is that the parts full of relentless drumming and shredding occur less often now, since there is a more IN FLAMES atmosphere in the whole album. Of course it is not a bad album, but it is not exactly what someone would expect from HATESPHERE.

The only thing that has been kept exactly as it was is the heavy and crystal clear sound, but that is not enough to keep these Danish maniacs as aggressive as they were. I listened to the album many times but it just doesn't feel the same as Serpent Smiles And Killer Eyes did. I am sure that fans of the specific sound will love it, but people who are a bit more demanding will instantly realize that something's missing.