Hatriot - The Vale Of Shadows

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Bloody Hell, talk about making an entrance for yourself. Cody Souza does just that with his ice curdling scream at the start of “Horns & Halos”, the opening song of their latest effort called “The Vale Of Shadows”. For those in the know, his voice is very recognisable and comparable to that of his dear father, Zetro Souza of EXODUS. HATRIOT actually hosts two of his sons, the other one, Nick,  doing the heavy hitting on the drums. Ever since their dad left the band it has only gotten more varied.

Now I do not only hear Bay Area Thrash, I also hear Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal passing by, especially DARKANE influences. It only adds to the enjoyment factor of these Thrashers. And what’s more, these guys have evolved in their writing of music, because the variation and quality have both risen above anything they have done before. Gone are the ever-expected EXODUS comparisons. No, HATRIOT has grown its own face and sound, and should be very proud of it.

There is no escaping their past, early influences and living surroundings. So, yes, you will get the typical Bay Area riffs, but through adjusting their sound a little bit, tuning their guitars to that Gothenburg sound, they have the edge of being somewhat different. But don’t get fooled by my writing, as this is a Thrash metal record from start to finish, with blastbeats, intensity issues, extremely fast tempos and violent rhythms thrown in left, right and centre. But, on top of that these guys have succeeded in writing their songs in  a manner that nothing ever gets dull. They never fall into the trap of repeating things too often, they know when to vary their pace and intensity, making sure your emotions will be flying all over the place.

To try and surprise us all they even use something very unlike Thrash Metal instruments, to be accurate, acoustic guitars, on a song like “Clemency Denied”, which only gives you a false sense of security, as shortly after that they go into and apply a midtempo, extremely heavy attitude, which only demonstrates how good that sounds, especially after the onslaught of the song before with the apt title of “Verminous And Vile”. And that is exactly how I want to characterise “The Vale Of Shadows”, as a show of surprises. HATRIOT are showing to be a very mature Thrash Metal band on their fourth effort. Well done!

Songwriting: 8
Musicianship: 8
Memorability: 8
Production: 9