Russian progressive death metal fledglings Hated are off to an incredible start with their debut full-length ‘Breathless Art’ quickly after their brilliant single “Ignorance” hit. Their sound is immediately identifiable in both influence and yet incredibly accomplished in it’s treatment of variation. The precision of their post-‘Human’ Death guitar attack and ‘Unquestionable Presence’ inspired rhythmic push is admirable. To describe Hated as ‘progressive’ is entirely fitting but keep in mind their style leans towards a death/thrash guitar thrust and the floaty, cosmic death metal elements are fairly minimal outside of “Emptiness is Form”.  If your taste in this stuff is anywhere near mine the arrangements on ‘Breathless Art’ are close enough to Atheist‘s work that your mind will go into a grand mall seizure the moment this album begins.

The first Russian death metal band that really yanked at my brain cells was Succubus with their 1995 album ‘Destiny’ and although that is a review for another day, this band surprised me in the same way and with a lot of the same spirited influence. The core of the Hated experience primarily pulls riffs and themes from the late 80’s early 90’s Florida progressive death metal movement and I believe some moderate Sadus vibes by proxy. “Ignorance” in particular has a Sadus groove throughout and if not for the heavy ‘Human’ influence on the songs structure I’d be pointing more towards ‘Swallowed in Black’.

‘Breathless Art’ has value beyond the bands it resembles, though. The songwriting here might constantly evoke their influences but their variation and technical thrash metal sound hits a major climax at the end of the album. “Echoes of Eternity” and “Ocean Depths” yank on my nostalgia strings but “Waste of Human Thought” and “Fall of Reason” are absolute standouts in the album’s progression. “Waste of Human Thought” basically sounds like a B-side from the ‘Symbolic’ sessions and seethes in a straightforward attack that was lacking from some of the more progressive intentions on the first half of the album. “Fall of Reason” is nearly their “Crystal Mountain” moment though they don’t take it all the way there, and the manic vocals begin to resemble my favorite band Hellwitch at higher velocity. I can feel the passion in this treatment of old school death metal and that is remarkable considering the number of bands I’ve heard emulating this style over the last twenty years. Hated absolutely deserves your attention if you’re a fan of this style of progressive/technical old school death metal.

Gasp for air. 4.0/5.0

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