It’s been said the forefathers of heavy metal, Black Sabbath, had already written all the riffs and that arguably may be true, although it’s always appreciated when a band can come up with the likes of Obituary’s "Body Bag" or Pestilence’s "Out Of Body" or Death’s "Zero Tolerance", truly memorable riffs that have "classic" written all over them the minute you first lay your ears upon them. But you can have all the best riffs and still lack songwriting ability. Thankfully, neither lack seem to be the case with Canadian debutante Hatred Reigns.

Taking vocal inspiration from Eric Rutan (Hate Eternal) and Dan "Lord Worm" Greening to the tune of Mitch Harris (Napalm Death), Trey Azagthoth (Morbid Angel), latter Chuck Schuldiner (Death), Jonathan Levasseur (Cryptopsy), Koen Romeijn/Mike Ferguson (Detonation) and Mikael Akerfeld (Opeth) with Éric Langlois (Cryptopsy) bass and Derek Roddy (Hate Eternal) meets Florent Mounier (Cryptopsy) drums topped with a sharp unforgiving production of Cryptopsy’s "None So Vile" Hatred Reigns create three perfect songs of brutal hook-laden beauty that bear constant revolution for consistent re-discovery of details previously unheard.

Hatred Reign truly take no prisoners on "In Anguish", Brandon Mayhew’s Rutan – like growls molesting Adam Semler/Jeffery Calder innovative riffing this site of "I, Monarch" with decidedly Mounier-ian drumwork of Eric Cooper Lefebvre and surprisingly Akerfeld-ian twist toward the end. Then "Pain Leads To Nothingness" erupts with Rutan meets latter Schuldiner for some almost melodeath Romeijn/Ferguson ending that never strays too far from Azagthoth especially on that ripping solo. A bone-chilling clip from "30 Days Of Night" movie, "please, God!/Gooood/No God" ushers in the most delicious Cryptopsy worship where Kyle Hnatyshin’s Mounier-ian bass is finally audible. And that’s all they’ve got for now, as perfect as it is.

With "Realm: I – Affliction" EP, their first and only recording, Hatred Reigns alerts us to the arrival of another innovative, brutal and exciting death metal band from Canada, the birth place of the mighty Cryptopsy. This being the debut, I am aware of how they are hyper-focused on creating the best possible first impression so we should hardly expect a highly original material, but even in its own right this is a compelling awe-inspiring debut worthy of the highest praise and score.

https://hatredreigns.bandcamp.com